Where Demons Fear to Tread
by phoenixreal
Summary: Purgatory AU - Steampunk Bleach/DGreyMan/Naruto/Inuyasha/Black Butler Xover. After the Four-Fold Demon wars ended, the world was left in chaos. Despite the factions coming to a tentative peace, the human world was the one that suffered the most. Four Demon Blooded find themselves captured together and thrown into Purgatory, a place of human revenge and perversions. YAOI/Explicit
1. Chapter 1

**Where Demons Fear to Tread**

Alternative Universe – Purgatory

This is a Crossover AU that combines elements and characters from Inuyasha, Bleach, D. Grey Man, and Naruto. This AU has been created by phoenixreal and sapphiretou. Feel free to use the AU we have created for your own stories, but we'd appreciate a link back or a note about our creation. Please see Notes for more information on the AU, and if you are really interested in using it, let us know.

Very much first draft and in development, so many changes forthcoming.

Chapter One

Purgatory

Londinium bustled and writhed with life, even as twilight had been long past. As the biggest, and most industrial city, in Albion, Londinium was always busy. Steam powered factories produced goods at all hours thanks to gas powered lights that brought near daylight to them. The river Thames that ran next to the city provided more than enough water and hydraulic power for the busy city. Clocks ticked, and bells and whistles could be heard all through the night. The smoke and smog seemed perpetual, a low covering blanket on the city at all hours of the day, it seemed. The mixed smells of burning coal and fresh roasted fowl permeated the streets. Self-powered carriages chugged past horse drawn food carts, even in the wee hours of the morning. The populace were indeed industrious, and no one really questioned the decrees of their Queen, for it was apparent she took her job very seriously.

In the alleys, and hidden in places dark and deep, though, an underground thrived, however. Only the most well connected people could even access the goods and services traded on the black market. Of course, considering the state of the world after the Demon Wars, it was no wonder some things were scarce these days. Much of the lands had been scorched as the four demon factions waged war on each other, at the expense of the humans that resided there. It had been nearly a hundred years since the war ended, and Londinium was a testament to human ingenuity and tenacity. Even out of the deepest crater, a city was born. However, in the blood of those that lived there ran a cold hatred that could not easily be quelled.

This animosity was quite apparent as a young man with bright orange hair ran through the streets. He had on a thin shirt and pants, both of which were threadbare and dirty. His feet were bare and beginning to bleed as he took a run up the side of a building, bounding from side to side to get onto the roof to evade his pursuers. He moved with incredible speed and agility, though, and if that wasn't enough, the demonic eye he had marked him for what he was, either a half blood, or a blooded. Either way, the residents stepped aside as he begged someone to help him as he dodged a man with hair a few shades darker than his own, and another one with white hair.

He couldn't get away from them. He heard them like thunder as he dodged and weaved through the alleys of the confounded city. He hadn't expected them here. He hadn't expected them to find him. Honestly, he just wanted to be left alone with his twin. Well, he called him a twin, they weren't really twins. But that was complicated.

"Stop, demon spawn!" he heard behind him as he leaped down the side of a building. He just wanted to find his twin. He needed to find him, and if he did, they could fuse, and then get away. But he lost him…

Ichigo Kurosaki had been born in the normal way of humans, but when he was born, his eyes marked him as demon blooded. His mother and father tried their best to protect him, but neither could understand how it could have happened. Neither of them had any Demons in their lineages, in fact, his mother had been one of the Quincy Clan, a clan of Demon Hunters. They'd moved often, but then after his sisters were born, it became harder. Luckily, Karin and Yuzu were normal. Then, a set of demon hunters had tried to capture him, and in doing so, they murdered his mother. In his grief, his father had run with the girls. Ichigo didn't blame him. The demon hunters knew about him, and they wouldn't stop. He'd run from them. At nine years old, it hadn't been easy for him. Now, almost ten years later, it wasn't much easier to avoid them.

However, when he had been ten years old, something happened that changed him forever. He'd been caught by a pair of sadistic demon hunters that had him pinned in an alley. They had been teasing him, threatening to hurt him. When he was ten, he hadn't known what they meant, but he did now. These "demon hunters" were usually criminals that wanted to have freedom to rape, murder, and otherwise harm others. They could get their hands on demon blooded and half-bloods and claim that they fought and resisted them, so they had to kill them. No one questioned those kills because in most human lands, they were universally hated.

At ten, though, something happened as the man pressed him into the concrete ground and laughed as he cried. The world whited out and the men were dead and he was running with his hand intertwined with a white one. Once they were outside the city he realized what had happened. He was looking at an copy of himself, only pure white. He had one eye like his, black sclera and gold iris, and the other was honey brown. Ichigo's demon eye was the left, and Shiro, as he named him, had his demon eye on the right. Shiro very quickly became the loud, outspoken one of them. He was brash and confrontational. Ichigo was quiet for the most part, but he would defend his twin if he had to without hesitation.

But they had gotten separated when a large group of hunters had found them outside the city. They hadn't been bothering anyone, just had set up camp outside the town together. They'd run, of course, but they'd separated them, knowing that if they were together they could fuse to become one extremely powerful demon.

Now, Ichigo couldn't figure out how to get away from them. They'd got him cornered and before he knew it, he was at a wall. He turned just in time to see one of the men shoot, and the world faded away. He could feel the tears as he fell to the ground. He just wanted Shiro back. He needed him.

Mabashi smirked as he looked over the downed demon spawn at Jin. "Think the others got hold of the white one?"

Jin shook his head. "I bet not, that fucker was the smarter one of the two. Besides, you can't let them touch each other or we're in trouble. But boss wants us to throw this one in Purgatory. He's pretty, he'll fetch a good price. So would the white bitch, but you know, I doubt Ho and Ban caught him. Anyway, let's get him over there before he wakes up and tries to run. Don't want to bruise that pretty face before someone pays to do it," he said and helped Mabashi lift the unconscious boy up.

"He's pretty lucky, would pass for human except that eye," Mabashi said. "Oh well, just another one to get used up," he commented as he tossed the thin body into the back of the van and locked the doors. "Come on, let's get him into the place so we can get something to eat before we go to bed for the night."

In the dark of the building, a young man stood and watched intently. "What are they doing back here…" he muttered as they drove off with the boy. He reached up and ran a hand through his dark hair and his ocular implant spun and focused on the van as it left. "Fuckin' Bounts. That's no good," he muttered as he walked away. He was slightly annoyed that Orochimaru had been right.

Sasuke Uchiha had been living and working as a part of Otogakure, a somewhat safe haven for blooded and half demons loyal to Orochimaru. Orochimaru was a rather infamous, and powerful, half demon that even the Shinigami and the Black Order gave a wide berth to. He had a lot of people under his command, but he also never did anything to warrant interference from the various groups. Orochimaru had sent Sasuke into the city to verify if the Bounts were in town. Anytime they showed up, demon blooded and half demons who weren't hiding ended up disappearing. They were known as "catchers". No one knew where the ones they caught went, but they were never seen again.

He headed back, using the stone that Orochimaru created for him. It was something he had to be wary of, as it was demonic magic that powered it, and if he wasn't careful, he could be caught and jailed. He might have been human, but using demonic items was prohibited.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo woke up in that way that told him he'd been drugged. It was a slow and sluggish thing that felt like he was swimming up through layers and layers of water. He moaned and rolled over, feeling hard floor underneath him and hearing the clinking of chains. The world came into focus suddenly and he sat up and looked around him, eyes stopping on a figure sitting on a cot nearby. He was a short, petite boy, it looked like. All Ichigo could see was his white head of hair where he clutched his knees to his chest.

"Hey," Ichigo said as he stumbled to his feet, the chain around his left ankle clinking. He looked down and saw it had a demon seal on it. Of course it did. He rubbed his head and moved toward the other occupant.

Other than the several cots that lined the edges of the cell. The walls were clear, but Ichigo knew that it wasn't glass, it was that clear steel that he'd seen the humans making. He thought it was so hypocritical of them to abhor everything from the demons, yet, they used demon magic to create this clear steel. The room was perhaps ten by ten in size, and it sat next to another cell just like it on either side.

"I'm Ichigo," he said as he sat down on the cot next to him.

The boy looked up and Ichigo saw he was blooded or half like him, too. He had white hair, and a long curse mark down his left cheek. His eye was also demonic, Akuma blood, if he didn't miss his guess, and his left arm was covered with some sort of leathery looking skin. He smiled a bit. "Allen," he said in a soft voice.

Ichigo leaned back against the wall behind him. "Any idea where we are?" he asked.

"Purgatory," Allen answered, shivering slightly as he spoke.

"What's Purgatory?" Ichigo asked, frowning.

Allen looked at him. "You don't know what Purgatory is?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I've been running for a while, this is the first time I've been in this place," he said with a shrug.

"You'll regret winding up here," Allen said with a sigh.

Ichigo looked up as the cell next to him opened and two figures were thrown to the floor. The door slammed and he never saw who threw them in there. The cells seemed to be soundproof, but he could see that there were two females. Both of them had cat ears and tails, so he guessed they were Youkai blooded. Shiro had told him how to recognize the various demon bloods because doing so would keep him safe. Ichigo didn't know how Shiro knew so much since they were essentially the same person. There was a muffled sound on the other side and he saw four females being ushered into that cell. He saw they had holes in parts of their bodies, so they were Arrancar. That was impressive, full Arrancar were hard to capture. One had curly purple hair, another had short blonde hair, the third had black pigtails, and the last one was really short with short black hair. Ichigo thought that might have been a guy, but it was hard to tell. A few minutes later another person was pushed into the first cell with the two Youkai Blooded. They seemed to give him a lot of space.

"There's all sorts of blooded here…" he said as he turned back to Allen. "What is this place?"

Allen looked at him. "Hell," he said seriously. "This is a place where we're taken and never seen again. We're used up for human consumption, whatever their desire. The tough ones are sent to the gladiator ring. The ugly ones are sent to the snuff films and death chambers. The unique ones are sent to research. And the pretty ones…we get sent to the brothel."

"We?" Ichigo asked.

Allen nodded. "This is the waiting area, when these cells fill up, they move us all to the Purgatory brothel. If you're here, that's where you go. That's why there's more girls than guys here. Most of them want females up there, but they keep a few boys. I heard that they've run out recently. Of the boys."

"Run out?" Ichigo asked, brows meshing together.

"As in they've died for whatever reason. There's no rules. They pay. They put you chained in a room with them. They do what they want. If you die, they have to pay extra, but that's all," Allen said with a sigh.

Ichigo stared at him. "But you're a kid! You can't be going to a brothel!"

Allen smiled. "I'm not, actually. I'm probably older than you. I'm twenty nine," he said with a sigh. "I just look fifteen."

Ichigo thumped against the wall. "Why the waiting?"

"Because the brothel is shielded, and it takes a lot of power to open it for demons to pass through. Normally a blooded can't get into the place, so they have to do a lot of effort to close the shield long enough to take us through. Best we can hope for is a swift death," Allen said with a sigh.

"How many do they wait for?"

"Six in each cell," Allen said. "I imagine they will need a couple more boys at least. Boys get the roughest treatment," he said with a sigh.

Ichigo went to the wall and put both hands flat on it. "Shiro…" he whispered. "Please come find me."

"Who's Shiro?" Allen said from his seat.

"Um, well, kinda my twin, but not really. We used to be one person, but then we were two…" Ichigo said and turned back around. "I just call him Shiro because he's white colored, skin, hair, all that. He protects me, and I protect him. But, if we touch each other we can become one again, and when we do that we're as powerful as a real demon instead of a blooded. So they separated us from each other, otherwise they wouldn't have caught us. We've run from them too many times to count."

Ichigo sat down on the floor. "Shiro's gonna be so mad," he whispered. "He won't stop until he finds me…he'll kill people, I know it."

Allen looked at him. "Maybe he won't," he said with a shrug. "Does it matter? They're the one that hate us."

Ichigo felt a sudden wave of sadness. He knew that Shiro would stop at nothing to get him back. He also knew that there was no way for Shiro to figure out where he went if he hadn't seen what happened to him. He hoped Shiro was able to keep himself from destroying too much and getting himself killed.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Should we show him how we handle things here?"

Bambietta Basterbine smirked as she watched Cang Du and Quilge Opie drug the bound demon spawn into the street. All around them, the humans that lived in their city watched with wide eyes as they moved through the street. No one dared say anything, they simply watched as the four Wandenreich drug their victim toward the town center.

"Come one, come all, and let's punish one of these demon spawn!" yelled Candice Catnipp as she bounded into the area. "What shall it be today?" she said, spinning on her heel and looking at the other four.

Cang held him up on the right, Quilge on the right. "Tie him to the post, use the scourge on him. See how much skin we can rip out before he bleeds to death," Jugram Haschwalth, the Vice General of the Wandenreich said as he walked up, hands tucked neatly behind his back in his pristine white suit. "He's one of the Tailed Spawn. He deserves no better than a long, painful death."

Bambietta smirked as she pulled the scourge from her hip that she carried. "String him up," she said as the two men pulled him toward a tall post with shackles attacked to it in the middle of the square.

The creature between them was beginning to wake up. He already looked bad, dripping blood from cuts and bruised all over his tan colored flesh. He was very obviously a Tailed Beast spawn, he had three tails in bright orange that nearly drug the ground while he was unconscious. He'd been stripped down to a pair of loose pants and nothing else. He was blonde haired with a pair of fox ears on the top of his head instead of human ones. Within minutes he was chained to the pole, hands stretched above his head, on his knees.

"Cane his feet first," Jugram said with a smirk. "Should wake him up."

All around the square, people watched. They knew better than to walk away from public event. To do so would mean to end up whipped there as well, or publicly executed. They knew the horrors that they might soon witness, but their fear kept them where they stood.

Cang Du steppe up, pulling the cane from the thong on his hip. He grinned and pulled it back, slapping across the bottom of the demon spawn's bound feet. He had been unconscious, but when the first strike hit his feet he gasped and yelped. They'd gagged him, but even through the gag, he screamed as he struck him again and again until his feet were both bleeding.

"I think he's awake," Cang said and stepped back, flicking his wrist to get the blood off the cane as he put it back.

"Good," Bambietta said as she stepped up behind the panting demon spawn. "Here, let's see how long before you die," she said as she pulled back the vicious scourge and let it fly at his exposed back.

After fifty strikes, she stepped back panting from her own exertion. He'd finally passed out, strips of skin hanging from his shredded back, and a pool of blood under him. He was breathing still, but thinly and he was limp against the pole.

"What should we do?" Opie said and looked over at Jugram. "Should I kill him?"

"He's dead already, he just doesn't know it yet. Leave him there until morning," Jugram said and turned on his heel and left, followed by the other four chuckling people.

The human residents of the city wandered away slowly, all but a little girl who stood holding a fox stuffed toy in her arms. It was a relic from the days before the demon wars. She hugged it to her chest and waited until everyone had gone. She walked up to the bloody mess that had become of the creature in the center of the square. She stared at his face, watching as his eyes fluttered weakly.

"Mr. Fox demon?" she said quietly.

Bright blue eyes stared at her, and even a young child like her could see the pain he was in. She smiled at him, though. "My mommy gave me this. She said that one day I would see someone who needed it worse than I do. She said that my Daddy left it for me. She said that Daddy said he was magic," she said and she sat the stuffed fox on the ground in the spreading pool of blood under the demon spawn fox. Where the blood touched the toy, it started being sucked up into it, changing the color from orange to deep crimson. The little girl smiled and turned away, leaving it there. After a few moments, the toy fox began to stand on all fours, and blood red tails began to emerge beside the single one it already had. There were soon nine tails.

The toy moved forward haltingly, blood still being pulled from the ground into it. The ground was nearly cleaned of the blood by the time the toy simply walked into the Demon spawn. There was a flash, and he was simply gone. All that remained was a stuffed toy fox and clinking chains.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Naruto hadn't known he was a half demon until his blood matured when he turned fifteen. Then, he knew, but he could hide it. That had been five years ago. This year, the transformation had finished, and he couldn't hide it anymore. The Uzamakis lived in Heiligstadt, capital of the Wandenreich territory, and anything demonic was disposed of, quickly. In fact, anything that was considered impure by Yahweh's decree was destroyed. The people lived in fear, and they had ever since King Yahweh had taken over the area shortly after the Demon War began. At first, the Wandenreich offered protection and kept the demons away, then, something happened, and the very demonic energies they used to protect them from demons began to warp their minds and very souls.

Naruto had been spotted by one of them this morning. His parents had died not long ago, and he couldn't keep inside the house all the time. As the changes became more visible, it became harder to hide them. He had to leave for food. So they had chased him down, beat him, then took him to the center of town to die. The little girl, he hadn't expected that, but he recognized a blood totem when he saw one. He may not have been raised among demons, but his father, his human father, that was, had been a Quincy before he'd hidden his abilities and pretended to be a simple laborer. He'd recognized Naruto for what he was but kept him safe, until the day that Yahweh had sent for him and his mother. They were hung in the center of town for "suspected dissention" which meant that Yahweh had decided that he wanted them dead.

Now, he pushed himself shakily to his feet and looked around him. He was in some sort of forested area, and he was starting to shiver. He still felt blood running from his shredded back and his feet felt like they were on fire. He limped until he fell into a hollowed tree root and just laid there for a long time, panting.

"You look terrible," he heard a voice say. He lifted his head weakly and saw it was another demon spawn like him, but this one had long white hair and a pair of triangular dog ears on his head. He wore a red outfit. "What happened?" he said as he knelt beside him.

"Humans…Wandenreich…where…where am I?" he asked.

"I don't know, I've…been running for days now. I haven't seen another one of o ur kind in a long time," he said as he felt around on the ground and plucked a few plants. "Here, I have some training in medicine," he said as he began trying to do something with the frayed skin of Naruto's back. "What's your name?"

"Naruto," he said with a sigh, trying not to cry out. "You?"

"Inuyasha," he said softly. "I just want to get home, but I don't know how to get there."

Naruto nodded. "I just want to live," he muttered as he found he couldn't even move. "Are there good humans?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha said as he slid down beside Naruto's head. "Not a lot, I've found, but some have helped me."

"Who are you running from?" he asked.

"This woman with long green hair, she reminds me of a snake, but I don't think she's a demon," he said. "There's two of them, and she almost caught me once, said I was pretty enough for Purgatory. I don't know what that means."

"It means, you're mine," came a woman's voice from nearby.

Inuyasha stood up but couldn't tell where it was coming from. "Where are you, you bitch?"

"Ah, I'm not alone, and looks like we get wo pretty boys for the price of one," she said again, and before either could react, the world went black and crashed around them.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo began to wonder how long they would have to wait. The other cells were full, only their sell had room in it. Allen, he found, wasn't very talkative, and he himself paced more than anything. Food appeared, if it could be called food, but before it showed up, they were gassed to unconsciousness.

Ichigo felt the chain on his ankle tighten and yank him toward the wall. He heard Allen's chain retract, but he was sitting on the cot already. He looked up as a man came toward the cell dragging a figure, and a woman came behind him dragging another. Both were drug into the cell and dropped, and both shackled with the sealing anklet like Ichigo and Allen. The man and woman left, and the chains on Ichigo and Allen loosened.

Ichigo immediately went to check on the two that had been brought in. He knelt by the first, a white-haired boy like Allen, but he had dog ears. Youkai? He shook him gently, and he groaned, turning his eyes on him.

"Huh, where…" he said and sat up, looking around. He looked at Ichigo and Allen. "What…where am I?" he asked.

"On your way to Purgatory," Ichigo said with a sigh.

Ichigo heard the other one groan and then saw that he looked injured. He moved over to him and looked him over. "Hey, you alive?"

Naruto opened his eyes to see a young man over him with one brown eye and one black and gold. "Ah, you're a hollow blood," he said as he sat up and rubbed his head, then rubbed his ass where his tails felt like they'd been yanked.

Ichigo nodded. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," he said and glanced over at Allen. "That's Allen Walker."

"Naruto Uzamaki," the blonde said as he sat up.

"Inuyasha," the dog-eared boy said and looked between them. "What is Purgatory?"

Allen sighed. "I told him already. Hell. We're set to go to the Purgatory brothel. It would have be better if we'd gone to the Purgatory Hunts or the Purgatory Ending."

"What are they?" Naruto asked.

Allen looked between them. "The Hunts are where they send the ones that they want to hunt down like animals. The Endings are where they take the ones that aren't good for the brothel or the hunts, and they're used for amusement of humans who want to murder or torture us to death. They do death films too." Allen sighed. "But at least it's over quickly."

Inuyasha looked between them and sighed. "I just want to go home. I want to see my brother even if he hates me still."

"Why would your brother hate you?" Naruto asked, glancing at him.

"I'm half blood, my brother is a full blood youkai. My mother was human, and my father the dog demon. I…I was kidnapped by the hollow army," he said as he glanced at Ichigo. "But when the wars ended, when we became allies, they let me go, but I was far from home."

Naruto nodded. "I didn't even know I was half-blood until I started changing when I turned fifteen," he said with a sigh. But I lived in Heiligstadt, Wandenreich territory, and they found me," he said with a sigh.

Ichigo gave the two new companions his story, and Allen had little to add. They talked on and off over the next few days, but eventually they fell asleep like they usually did for meals. However, this time when they awoke, they were somewhere else. Ichigo crawled to the others and saw that he'd come awake before them. He looked around and found they were in some kind of viewing room. The whole front wall was made from the clear steel, and the other three walls were concrete. Each of their wrists and ankles were bound with a metal cuff marked with the demon seals. There were four kinds of seals, of course, depending on the demon, but these were engraved with all four.

In the room were four cots, and there was an adjoining bath with a small shower/tub. It was about twenty feet wide, and about ten feet in depth across. Ichigo realized that they had all been bathed and changed. He looked down to see he had been put in a yukata type robe. His was black with gold streaks in it. Naruto's was orange and edged in white, Inuyasha's was red, and Allen's was black edged in silver. They'd all been placed on the cots that lined the back of the room away from the clear barrier. Ichigo walked up to the wall and put his hands on the surface. Across the hallway, he saw another room just like it, and he was staring at some of the ones that had been in the cells near them. They were all dressed in similar yukatas. He glanced to his left and right and saw that there were other rooms on either side of the one across the hall. That meant there were at least six of them. Maybe more.

As he watched, a few men and women walked down the hallway. They were well dressed humans. A pair came up to the clear barrier and looked at him. He could hear them faintly.

"New boys?" the woman said with a smirk. She was older, and had her black hair in a high bun. "I shall have to tell the boys."

"I don't think your son will be allowed back, after he killed the other two he bought for the night," the older man, a balding and rather fat man, said beside her.

She shrugged. "We paid the recompense for that incident. Besides, not his fault…" the voices trailed off as they walked away.

Ichigo couldn't believe this. It was true. They had been taken to this place. They were going to used for the perverse desires of these humans… He dropped to his knees, hands pressed to the window. He glanced behind him as Allen and the other two stirred. He needed to find a way to get them out. He didn't have Shiro to help him, so he had to do it alone. He had to protect them, especially Allen. He seemed so sad and had given up.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Reminded, this AU is in development, so this is in extreme first draft. Obviously, any comments are welcome if you see ways we can improve it or the like. I listen to all advice. I might not take it, lol.

Chapter Two

Sanctuaries

Rin skipped along the hallways of the main building pulling her friend and his caretaker along with her.

"Miss Rin, I am not sure that we should be bothering the Lord…" the dark skinned man following tentatively behind the two younger ones commented. He reached up and pushed the mirrored visor up on his nose.

Kaname Tōsen had been born blind, but like so many in recent years, he'd acquired a bit of demonic inspired technology that helped him out. He still didn't see like others, but he could see in a manner similar to echo location. In front of him, the young Rin was skipping with his charge, Wonderweiss. Wonderweiss had been the reason he'd abandoned his station as one of the fallen Shinigami's lieutenants. None in Las Noches spoke of Sōsuke Aizen since his attempt to assume control of the Arrancar. Of course, that meant that Tōsen, who was one of the Shinigami, or had been, had not gone back to his home of the Seireitei either.

"Don't worry! Lord Sesshōmaru said to come see him if I had anything he should know, and he should meet you and Wondy!" Rin said as she walked up and pounded on the door for a moment before she opened it and led the other two in.

"My Lord Sesshōmaru!" she said with a brilliant smile.

Lord Sesshōmaru, the current leader of Yōkai Demons, turned and glared at the three that had just barged into his office. He growled under his breath. Tōsen had not yet met the Demon Lord, but he had heard enough stories of him. He was said to have an insatiable desire for power and near outright disdain for anyone that was not a full blooded demon.

"What do you want, nuisance?" he said as he sat down in the sofa along the back wall, his white robes accenting the fountain of long, white hair that framed his face. The moon symbol on his forehead, his demon mark, stood out significantly when there was plenty light for it.

"I brought my friends, my Lord!" Rin said. "This is Tōsen-sama, he's a Shinigami, and his Arrancar friend Wonderweiss! That bad Shinigami guy experimented on Wondy. But he's better now." Rin was dancing around where Sesshōmaru was sitting.

"I see. Why are you here?" he said and sighed.

Rin smiled and crawled up on Sesshōmaru's lap. "Because I wanted to see if you had heard about Uncle Yashie!"

The sensation of Sesshōmaru mood changing was palatable. Tōsen sensed easily the sudden near vulnerability of the Demon Lord.

"No," he growled. "Nothing. The Noahs claim he was sent via caravan two months ago. There was no caravan, and there has been no sign of him," he said and glanced at the Shinigami. "But Akuma can't be trusted. They're no more than living weapons. Disgusting creatures. Rin, go play with your friend," he said as he stood up. "Go play," he said with a sigh and waved them off.

The gregarious young girl drug her two companions out the door with her into the hallway. Sesshōmaru stood at the window for a long moment until he heard the door open again.

"Lord Sesshōmaru, there is a visitor for you," Jaken said from the doorway.

Sesshōmaru sighed and glared at the impish creature that seemed to think he oversaw the place most the time. "Send them in," he answered.

"Lord Sesshōmaru," a voice said from behind him. He turned and saw that it was a pair of black uniformed Shinigami and one of the Espada from Las Noches. What would they be doing here…

The first of the Shinigami nodded at him. "Byakuya Kuchiki," the dark haired and regal appearing one said. "I am a captain of the Gotei 13, and this is my lieutenant, Renji Abarai. We've come with a representative from Primera Espada Starrk. This is Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. We've come to discuss some possible ways to quell unrest among our peoples and the humans."

Sesshōmaru looked at them. "I see no need for this. I have no difficulty with my populace. If your cities and homes have such difficulties, I have no concern for them."

Renji shook his head. "This concerns all Blooded more than it concerns the humans."

Byakuya stood stiffly. "You have heard of the Bounts."

Sesshōmaru froze for a second and looked at him. "Bounts. They are a legend. No consequence."

"Yeah, ya'd like that, huh," Grimmjow commented, dropping into a chair instead of standing and sprawling over it. "They're real. Trust me. We've had more than one of ours disappear where they shouldn't. And the only thing in common is these assholes that come and take them away. One of our Espada's lost someone very important to them and he wants him back."

"Why should this concern me?" Sesshōmaru said with a deep sigh. "That is where you are, not where I am," he said.

The red headed Shinigami spoke up. "Look, these people are a problem, and they are snatching demon bloods anywhere they can. And that's not even counting that entire region that is a death sentence to walk in to the east of Londinium."

Sesshōmaru looked at him. "Heiligstadt. The Wandenreich. I've heard enough from some of the Demon Bloods that come here seeking my protection from them."

Byakuya nodded. "So that's why we're here. To discuss this. It seems to us, and the Arrancar, that making an alliance rather than being a bunch of random cities across the land. Albion needs us to come together."

"Albion needs us?" Sesshōmaru said with a huff. "I could go back to my homeland, so could all the demons and leave these dumb humans to their own problems."

"You don't believe that, and I know it," Grimmjow commented. "You stay here because of Inu-Taisho's wishes. And you won't turn your back on your Half Blood brother."

At the mention of his brother, Sesshōmaru stood and turned away from them. Grimmjow glanced at the Shinigami. "Wait, he's not here, is he?"

Sesshōmaru shook his head. "The Noah had captured him. They claim he escaped from a transport and ran away even though they told him they were sending him home. I doubt they were going to do that at all."

"We can help, you know. We can see if we can't find out anything. He hasn't been captured by the Wandenreich, we know that. We have an inside man," Byakuya said with a sigh.

Sesshōmaru nodded. "I…will consider this idea. Summon me when you know more. Is there an arranged meeting place?"

Byakuya nodded. "Thus, far we have agreed at the Black Order stronghold in Londinium, central location and easy to get to."

"Very well," he said and turned his back to them again.

Byakuya and Renji glanced at Grimmjow. "Alright, let's get out of here, Grimmjow said with a yawn. "We have yet to get to the Black Order Stronghold tonight," he said as he led them out of the room into the hall.

Rin almost ran right into his legs. She looked up at him. "Whoa, Mr. Hole in the belly!" she exclaimed as she looked behind her as Wonderweiss caught up.

Tōsen froze as he came around the corner. He stared at the two Shinigami for a long moment. It was a moment of truth, in a way. He had defected from the Shinigami with Sōsuke Aizen in his attempt to rule over the Arrancar and Hollows of Hueco Mundo.

"So, this is where you ended up," Byakuya said as he glared at one of their traitor numbers.

Tōsen wasn't sure what to think. "I…I came here in the chaos. I just…I did not believe I would be welcome back at the Seireitei. I took Wonderweiss," he said and gestured to the white-haired boy that had sat down and was strumming an ukulele with a placid grin. "I knew that Aizen was going to use him as a weapon, and in doing so, he was going to die… I couldn't let that happen."

Byakuya looked at him for a long moment. Tōsen didn't back down. He knew of course he was safe in this city. Not only that, he knew the Shinigami. They would not attack him unprovoked.

"How did you get here?" Renji asked, looking at him for a long moment. "The only portal into Hueco Mundo was in the Seireitei unless Aizen had another."

"I came through the one in the Seireitei and found a caravan outside the city. It was risky, but I had no choice. I believed that I would not be welcome back home after I chose the Aizen's side. Incorrectly," Tōsen said with little expression on his face. "I hid the boy until we were nearly here, and I found this place to be a good place to go for those of us that are miscreants and the like."

The short and impish Jaken came walking down the hall. Wonderweiss jumped up and held his ukulele in one hand and grabbed the small creature with the other. "Jaken," he said with a smile and tucked him under his arm.

"I am not a doll!" he screamed and flailed. Wonderweiss seemed unperturbed by it and sat back down, pulling out the ukulele and playing again, this time with the demon under his left arm.

"And what's special about him that made you defy your new master?" Renji said with a cocked eyebrow.

Tōsen sighed. "He was an Arrancar that Aizen tried to recruit, a group that were musicians," he gestured to the boy playing the instrument. "But he refused, and Aizen took him and began playing with his head. He was very nearly incapable of speech at all by the time he was done. I knew then that what he was doing was wrong. I could make no further excuses that there was any sort of justice in his actions."

Renji looked at him. "Komamura has been searching for you."

"I know, I…I heard, but I was afraid of my reception, and I have made a home here," he said with a sigh.

"You would not be received poorly," Byakuya stated. "I believe the head captain would understand the situation. We are returning to the Seireitei now, and we'll let them know that you are here and safe. Now, Abarai, we must go," Byakuya said with a sigh.

The two Shinigami took off and Grimmjow stood and looked after them. He sighed deeply and was about to turn away when the door to the Lord Sesshōmaru office opened again. He looked at the Arrancar.

"I have had an urgent missive from Londinium from the Black Order. They've requested immediate assistance with an Akuma siege taking place. I am going myself, would you care to come with me through our portal?" Sesshōmaru asked.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, save me some fucking walking," he muttered as he followed Sesshōmaru down the hall.

"Jaken, quit fooling around and do your job," Sesshōmaru commented as he passed the Yōkai being held by the Arrancar.

A few minutes later, Sesshōmaru opened the portal to the other location. Demonic magic could breech the Dangai, or the Limbo, but it had to be done in a way. Only Daiyokai like Sesshōmaru could open one at will give the time to enact the ritual. Arrancar could transport themselves to Hueco Mundo but only from the Human World. Sesshōmaru and Grimmjow both stepped across the borders between their worlds.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Something is going on, and I think we have to get in there to find out what it is," Sasuke Uchiha said as he paced in front of Orochimaru desk.

"Getting into Purgatory is a death sentence for any of us," commented Kidōmaru from beside Orochimaru. He ran a hand over his short dark hair and snorted. "That is not a winnable game."

"Oh, shut up," Tayuya grumbled. "We have to do something. They got Kimimaro the last time they came around. We can't leave him there."

Orochimaru sighed. "No, we cannot. He is a valuable asset to me." He glanced at Sasuke. "Go to the Black Order. Inform them that we have the location of Purgatory and are willing to give it to them on the condition that you aid them. I will give you a glamor before you leave so that you are not recognizable. Bring Kimimaro back, and if you see any of these Bounts, kill them."

Sasuke nodded and bowed slightly before leaving quickly. He almost smiled because they were doing something. Despite his appearances, and attempts to seem disinterested, he honestly was bothered by the things that occurred to friends and the other demons. He may have been entirely human, but he had been saved by Orochimaru during a raid by the Wandenreich on his family's land. He stepped out to the gate and phased through it, receiving the glamor that Orochimaru offered, then headed into the city.

The gates of the Black Order were imposing, but it didn't bother Sasuke in the least. He stood there until an eyeball came out of the gate.

"What do you want?" it asked.

"I need to see the Black Order."

"Why?"

"I have information on Purgatory."

The gate opened immediately and he walked in, noting that there was a dark-haired man waiting on the other side with a katana over his shoulder. He had shoulder length black hair and glared at him. Beside him was a guy with short red hair and a hammer on his shoulder. He had an eye patch.

"Sasuke Uchiha," he said as the ocular implant spun and focused in on them. It relayed information back in real time to Orochimaru. "I've been sent by Lord Orochimaru."

"Kanda," the katana wielding man said and turned on his heel.

"I'm Lavi," the red head said in a more jovial tone. "Come along, we'll go talk to Komui. Fascinating for you to show up just as we've dispatched an Akuma siege. With help, of course," he muttered as he saw the fall of dust through the air from the magic the Yōkai had used. They hadn't expected their missive to summon the Demon Lord himself. He supposed that he was annoyed with the Akuma and wished to extract some manner of revenge since they'd lost his brother.

"Siege, huh?" Sasuke said. He knew Akuma left no trace when they were destroyed. Most demons left no corpses.

"Yeah, but it's over. The Lord Sesshōmaru and one of the Arrancar's Espada were with us. It…did not take long with their assistance," Kanda commented from the front.

Sasuke was vaguely impressed. He hadn't seen these two work together often. The Black Order tended to keep their distance from the actual demon factions. Granted, most of the Black order were either demon blooded or used demon artifacts to help with their purpose. That purpose, though, some demons disliked. They served as a Demon Police force almost, but then so did the Shinigami. They entered the main room and Sasuke saw the Demon Lord. He arched a brow. His presence was a lot more powerful than he expected. Then again, he wasn't used to meeting with full Bloods.

"Ah, hello," a man with glasses said and came running to Sasuke. "You come with information? On Purgatory? Please, come, come," he said ushering him to the large table where the blue haired Espada and the Yōkai lord sat.

"Yer human," Grimmjow said with a wrinkle to his nose. "But ya smell of demons."

"Yeah, what of it?" he said, crossing arms over his chest. "Look, I'm sent by Orochimaru. We have a location on Purgatory."

"How?" Komui asked with a frown. "We've been trying everything to get that for years now."

"The Bounts were in the area doing snatch and grabs," Sasuke explained. "Orochimaru implanted a tracking device on all of his people that were going to be leaving soon. One of our higher-ranking Demon Bloods, Kimimaro, disappeared right after he came into Londinium. We've traced his location," Sasuke said and blinked, turning on the image projector in the ocular implant.

A projected image of the area appeared on the white wall next to them. At first there was no real indication that the tracer was there, until Sasuke flipped the image to a side view. Komui grinned.

"They're under Londinium, that's why we haven't found them. They've carved a piece of Limbo to use as their hiding place," he said.

"Hypocritical," Sesshōmaru growled under his breath. "They condemn us and kill us, yet they'll use the bridge between the worlds to hide that disgusting den of perversity?"

Grimmjow glanced at him. "You shouldn't come to Las Noches, if you don't like perversity. We got a nice brothel there, popular," he commented.

"It is not the willing participants I have a problem with," Sesshōmaru said with a snort.

Komui nodded. "First we need recon verification. Uchiha, you are glamour already, you should go in. I can't mask Demon Bloods, so I'm afraid that you two will not make good on a covert entrance."

"Why can we not simply go to the location?" Sesshōmaru asked. "Why must we enter?"

"Wards," Lavi said from across the table. "There are seals and wards all over the place. I can go in, I'm human, if I don't take my hammer, I have no demon magic. I need a ward pulsar."

"Ward pulsar?" Grimmjow asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, you set it off and it blasts all wards for almost two miles. We don't use them often, but sometimes, like this, it's necessary," Lavi said with a shrug. "It should be me and the Shinobi boy, no more. Otherwise it looks suspicious."

Sasuke glared at Lavi. "Why do you think I'm a Shinobi?"

"Please, I could tell where you were trained the moment you walked in. Shinobi all have the same body movements from the way they learn to control demon magic. Fascinating ability, you know, syphoning demon magic out of the air with those jutsus of yours," he said as he handed his hammer off to Komui. "No time like the present, we need to do this before they figure out we know their location."

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Two months had passed, and they had been, quite frankly, hell for those in Purgatory. None of them got much rest, as it seemed that there was a reason they went through males so fast in this place. Ichigo just wanted Shiro. But even so, he did what he could for the others. He worried most on Allen, but as time went on, he thought the white-haired boy might be more resilient than he gave him credit for. Now, his worry was the jinchuriki. The half Yōkai boy seemed angry all the time, but that meant he was beaten and bruised worse than the rest of them.

Allen and Inuyasha had been taken out, leaving Ichigo with Naruto. He sat down beside him and patted his leg.

"Hey," he said to the boy quietly.

"Hey," Naruto responded.

"I know it doesn't help, but we're going to get out," Ichigo assured him. "Remember that, so we can get out together, we promised."

Naruto turned over and looked up at Ichigo and there were tears in his eyes. "Will we? They're so awful, the things they do to us, and make us do…someone is going to kill us with our power sealed like this," he said quietly. "I could get out so easily…"

"I know…" Ichigo said.

There was a loud bell and both stood immediately. The sound indicated a customer on the hall, and they all had to stand at the ready. To do otherwise led to horrible punishments. Ichigo and Naruto watched as two men walked down the hall with one of the valets. They looked at each window as they passed, but they stopped in front of their window. One of the men was red haired and had an eye patch. The other had black hair, but his face looked fuzzy to both the Demon Bloods in the room. They couldn't hear, of course, but it seemed they'd been chosen. Ichigo reached out and clutched Naruto's hand and wondered which of them would get this pair of humans.

"Both, out," came the intercom as the door in the side opened.

Naruto clutched Ichigo's hand again as the went down the steps and around into one of the empty rooms. They both went and stood at the foot of the large bed that dominated the room and stared at the floor. Now they would find what torment awaited them with these.

"Damn, aren't you fucking adorable," came one voice.

"They're both cute," came another one. "I can't fucking believe that this is real. Fuck."

Naruto grabbed Ichigo's hand again and clutched it hard. "I think they're scared."

"Of course, they're scared, idiot," came the other again.

Naruto gasped as his face was tipped upward and he was staring into the face of a man, no boy, he wasn't that old, with dark hair and one oscillating implant. "Fucking jinchuriki," he muttered. "Fucking full ass jinchuriki in this place, what the fuck?"

Ichigo looked at him and ground his teeth. He felt Naruto's body tremble. The ones that realized he was a jinchuriki beat the hell out of him. "Leave him alone," he growled out finally.

The implant spun and the dark haired one let go of Naruto's chin. "You're a Hollow…but different…I've never seen one like this…" he muttered. "Lavi, what do you make of this?"

The redhead came over and looked at Ichigo. "One demon eye? I've never seen that before. I didn't know that was possible. What's your name?"

Ichigo glared at him but didn't say anything. He had full intention of making them angry so they beat him instead of Naruto. "Alright, don't tell me, Hollow boy," Lavi said and turned to Naruto. "You?"

Naruto glanced at Ichigo and back to the two in front of them. "Naruto," he said finally.

"This is so many shades of fucked up, Sasuke," Lavi said and turned to him. "How many you think they have in this part alone?"

"Too many," he said as he reached under his robe and pulled out the device Komui gave them. "Should we take these two when we leave?"

"We can't, otherwise they'll know we're onto them," Lavi commented as he watched Sasuke.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

Lavi turned to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, allow me to introduce myself, Lavi Bookman, Black Order," he said and bowed. "That's Sasuke Uchiha, he's a Shinobi. We're here to disable the wards so we can bust in and free everyone."

Ichigo stared at him and then looked at Naruto. "What?"

Sasuke did something with his hands and the flat device he was holding disappeared into the wall completely. "Ready, we can trigger it at any time. But we need the full force before we do. Way too many guards for us to do this alone. And that's just the Brothel floor."

Lavi smiled and sat down on the bed. "We shouldn't leave yet. They'll think something's up."

Sasuke sighed. "True. You two, sit down. We're not going to do anything. We're just hear to get people out. And I didn't want to listen to whining females."

Ichigo and Naruto slowly sat down, hands still intertwined with each other. Lavi turned toward them. "How long have you been here anyway?"

"Two months since our group was brought in," Naruto said slowly.

"Group?" Sasuke asked with a frown.

"They only drop the wards for full shipments," Ichigo said. "So, they wait until they have at least twenty-five or so caught."

"Ah, that explains the empty beds. You had four in your room. Two other males, I take it?" Lavi said.

"Yeah, a half Yōkai named Inuyasha and a…as weird as it sounds, and Akuma Blooded named Allen Walker," Ichigo said with a sigh.

Sasuke and Lavi both nodded, but let them sit in silence for about an hour before they left, and let the two Demon Bloods be returned to their cell.

"I hate leaving them," Sasuke said as he glared behind him. They walked through the portal and appeared up on the streets of Londinium.

"Well, once the force is assembled, there won't be a problem. Let's go give our report," Lavi said as they headed back to the Black Order. They found Komui in his office with Grimmjow and Sesshōmaru seated across from him. There was a black suited Shinigami with bright red hair and another with neat black hair standing to the side now, though, and there was another man with blond hair standing to the side.

"Good, you've returned! Mission accomplished?" Komui asked excitedly.

"Yeah, here, this is what we got," he said as he turned and blinked three times to activate the video playback on the implant. They saw the encounter with the two and then saw the rooms as they passed them on the way out. Sesshōmaru jumped to his feet and turned to glare at Sasuke.

"Go back."

Sasuke went back in the video and went forward until Sesshōmaru practically shouted again, "Stop, there!"

Sasuke wasn't sure what this was about, but it was when they were leaving and they had walked by the room that the two boys had been in. "What is it? That's just the other two that are in the same room with the two we talked to."

Sesshōmaru turned back and his eyes were vibrant red. "The dog eared one. That's my brother."

Sasuke looked at Lavi as he shut the feed off. Lavi spoke up. "They…they said that they were with a half Yōkai named Inuyasha and an Akuma blooded named Allen Walker. The jinchuriki is named Naruto, and the Hollow blood is name Ichigo, but I only picked that up from the jinchuriki speaking with him."

Komui felt the incredible power roiling off the Demon Lord. "Okay, calm down, rushing will only put them in danger, I'll get things going as soon as I can," he said as he stood up to go to the call room.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Just a heads up, please check my profile. Due to harassment on FFN I may be discontinuing posting here. Please find me on Ao3 under the same user name, phoenixreal, and if you are in need of an invitation to join, message me and I can get you one.

As far as this story, I've added Black Butler to the fandoms included.

Chapter Three

Fabrications

The young lord yawned as he sat on his bed waiting the butler to come help him dress. Honestly, he didn't require the attention, but it was necessary to keep up the appearances. Of course, he was sure change was in the air.

"Bochan," the dark-haired butler said as he bowed.

"Don't call me that," he muttered.

Ciel Phantomhive was waiting, biding his time. With the appearance of a child, he was much older, and much more inquisitive than they gave him credit for. The Queen counted on the young man's voice on matters of the state of Albion. He stood up as his butler dressed him.

"Sebastian, how long until we are done here?" he asked as he moved where Sebastian needed him to move. "I tire of this smelly place."

"Ah, Bochan, I sense change on the air, do you not?" Sebastian said, leaning in to lick the lobe of his young master's ear.

Ciel growled, slapping him away. "We have business," he muttered as he looked at him.

"Ah, but Bochan…" Sebastian said with a smirk.

"You'll wait to service me until later," Ciel sad and turned on his heel and walked away toward the room where the meeting was taking place.

Sebastian stood at the back with the other servants as he sat down at the table. The Queen sat at the head, an elderly and graying lady with an ever-present smile.

"We have had an incursion last night on the Black Order by Akuma forces," she said as she glanced about the room. "I fear that the time has come for we, as humans, to separate ourselves from demonic influences."

There were murmurs of agreement but Ciel narrowed his eye at her. "How do you wish to do this?"

"Why hunt down and kill every Demon Blood out there," answered one of the other noblemen at the table. Ciel glared at him.

"How will you decide who to kill, Lord? How indeed?" another lady at the table spoke up.

"I'm sure there can be technology created to test blood to find traces of demonic energy," another noble said from the other end of the table.

Ciel looked at them. "There is nothing but idiocy in this idea."

"What would a child know of this?" groused one of the older men at the table.

"I know that by now, most humans have traces of demonic energy just by being around things of demon magic creation, like the clear steel. It gives off energy. And of the nine levels of the netherworld, we only know for sure how to trace demons from four of them," he said, glancing between them. "My father was a Quincy, if you remember. That is why I sit at this table with you, or have you forgotten this?"

There were muttered annoyances around the table. No one liked to admit that the child among them knew more about demons than anyone else. "Quiet, please," the Queen said as she looked around. "Lord Phantomhive is correct. There are too many variables to simply eliminate all of those with Demon Blood. It makes us no better than the horrors that are perpetrated by the Wandenreich."

"Those people have the right idea," the older lord muttered.

"They kill their own people for asking questions," Ciel provided. "This is not how we do things."

The Queen smiled at him. "Lord Phantomhive, you are vocal about what we should not do, might you posit ideas for what we can do to help our situation?"

"The embassy building," Ciel said and looked around the table.

At the mention of the controversial construction everyone started talking. The Queen shushed them.

"Hear out the Lord Phantomhive!" she announced sternly.

Ciel rolled his eyes, though only the one was visible. "The Demon Embassy would provide several benefits. We would have access to all levels of the Netherworld in one place. Currently we have to travel throughout Albion to even access some of them, and some we are still unable to visit. We would have treaties and emissaries from those that wish it, and we would have ways to monitor those that do not. This would be the first step toward true peace with the Demon realms."

"Why should we want peace?" the older man said again.

Ciel stared at him. "Two hundred years ago, they nearly destroyed the entire world. They wield magic as weapons, and we have nearly no knowledge of most of it. The Hollows and the Yōkai desire to work with humans, and create treaties. The Tailed Beasts offer no resistance to peace, and only wish to be left alone. The Akuma, they are creatures of destruction, but with the aid of the other factions, they will be easy to control. We either make peace, or one day, they destroy us all."

There was a long silence. "This would have never happened if the Gate had never been opened," one of the younger ladies of the court said.

"There is no going back now," Ciel said. "When the Gate to the Netherworld was opened, there was no closing it. It was human greed and thirst for power that put us in this position. The Demons would have never crossed the Dangai on their own. Humans were the ones that let them come across, and to live in concert is the only way to avoid certain destruction."

The Queen nodded. "This is true. We must come up with viable alternatives. Wanton destruction of elements will not do. Let's adjourned and reconvene in the morning and perhaps we will have some new ideas," she said and stood up and left.

Ciel was up and out toward the gardens as soon as she was gone. He flopped into the grass. Sebastian sat down beside him. "My lord, what bothers you?"

"Being treated like a child," Ciel muttered. "Hiding the fact that you are more than my butler. Not being able to tell them what I know. And having to smile when I know what happens below the streets of Londinium."

Sebastian leaned over and pulled the smaller boy into his arms to kiss him soundly for a long moment before releasing him with a grin. Ciel blinked and glanced around them. "No one is near, my Lord. But one day we will be able to show them. And besides, having a child's appearance behooves you in your position."

"I look fourteen," Ciel complained and crossed his arms in a huff.

"We told them you are sixteen," Sebastian said with a smirk.

"I'm thirty-one!" Ciel growled. "You and your demon magic making me look like a child. When am I finally going to look like an adult?"

Sebastian smiled. "Pact magic has many effects, my Lord. Slowing the aging process is one of them. I am uncertain how slowly you will age. You were ten when you took my pact bond, and you have aged twenty-one years since then, but appear to have ages four or five."

Ciel shook his head. "I still can't believe those idiots believed the story I gave them about being the Phantomhive's last child before they died and you raised me. Like you could raise a child."

Sebastian smiled. "My Lord, the day will come when we no longer have to hide any of this. I am your consort and companion, my Lord. Forever more."

Ceil shook his head and stood up with a sigh. "Come, Sebastian. Let us go and see if we can't get more information from the old cook. He seems to know more than anyone else in the castle…"

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Sasuke stood outside the walls of the Black Order awaiting the rest of them. Lavi had come to stand with him, along with the dark-haired sword wielding Kanda. Lenalee was another who came to go with them. They were all what they called "relic users" so none were Blooded. They also sent several others that were more like ground troops, including an interesting man named Zabuza that didn't speak much. The Shinigami had sent an incredibly tall man with spiked hair named Kenpachi Zaraki, and his tiny counterpart, a pink haired girl named Yachiru. Byakuya Kuchiki and his lieutenant, Renji Abarai had come, along with a retinue from their medical staff. The Demon Lord Sesshōmaru had come, of course, he needed no men with him. He had to wait until all the seals were broken, however, to enter. The Arrancar had sent Grimmjow, a short man with green eyes named Ulquiorra, a man with brown wavy hair named Starrk, and several others. Those three seemed to be in charge, however. To Sasuke's surprise, though, all eight of the Vizard members had come. They stood off to the side, marked as more demon than the other Shinagami by their black and gold colored eyes.

"I've never seen so many Blooded in one place," Lavi observed.

"Are all the Shinagami Blooded?" Lenalee asked as she glanced around them.

"Nah, some aren't. Some use relics like us, but they have Halfbloods and Blooded in their ranks. Of course, the Vizard are all Halfbloods hat were experimented on by that one of them that tried to take control of the Arrancar," Lavi said as he glanced toward the Arrancar.

"That was a mistake," Lenalee said as she saw the groups begin to intermingle a bit. She noted a short Shinigami female.

"Well, I guess I'm not the only girl," she said and headed over toward her. "Hey!"

The dark-haired Shinigami turned bright purple eyes on her. "Oh, hi!" she said and smiled.

"I'm with the Black Order, Lenalee," Lenalee said with a smile. "Not many girls around in this raid."

"Rukia Kuchiki," she said and shook Lenalee's hand. "We have other female Shinigami, the medical team has Isane and Captain Unohana. But yeah, it kinda is a boys' club."

"Kuchiki, isn't that the name of one of the captains, the handsome one with the black hair, right?" she asked, looking over to see Byakuya was in what looked to be an intense conversation with the Demon Lord Sesshōmaru. "Is he your man?" she asked and looked back at her.

"Nii-sama?" Rukia said. "Oh, no, he's my brother."

Lenalee smirked. "Ah, well, that's good," she said and glanced away.

Rukia looked at her. "Why's that good?"

"Oh, nothing. My brother is trying to get this going, Komui…" she said and headed back where Lavi and Kanda stood with Sasuke, leaving Rukia a bit confused.

Komui got up on a disk that lifted him up in the air.

"Attention!" he called, using a voice amplifier. He waited for everyone to quiet and look at him. "We are going to move out. We do not have a large force, as you can see. We have instead strategic teams. Now, Team One is going to be Lenalee, Kanda, Lavi, and Sasuke over there. They are all human, and can enter the building and set off the seals. Once that happens, Team Two, the front line team, will go in. Team Two is Captain Zaraki and his people. Lord Sesshōmaru, Captain Kuchiki and his people are Team Three. They are going to take the back position in the building. Team Four is being led by Espada Grimmjow and consists of his fraccion. They will left flank inside the building. Team Five will consist of Espada Starrk and Espada Cifer. Both will take a handful of people and flank the inside right, and the inside lower levels. Team six will be the retrieval team. This will be Captain Unohana from the Shinigami and Espada Harribel and their people. Now, we know basic layout, all of you have been given the reconnaissance done by Lavi and Sasuke, keep it in mind.

"Our priority is to get as many back to the Black Order as quickly as possible. We know there are at least four levels. The Brothel area is on the first level, the hunts are run out of the lowest, or fourth, level, the films are done on the second level, and the torture and kill zone is on the third level. We are working from the top down. So we'll begin with the Brothel and go from there. We know that the brothel is the most likely to have survivors. We are anticipating at least thirty from that level. The lower levels are unknown. Alright, move out!" Komui said and hopped off the floating disk.

Once they reached the portal and secure the entrance, easily disabling the guards, getting into Purgatory was easy. However, they knew their time was limited. Their biggest fear is that once they realized they were breeched, they'd start disposing of those in the place. To say it was chaos was an understatement. Sasuke and Team One managed to set off the device that disabled the wards and seals, and then everything exploded in cacophony.

The first level was easy to clear of those running the level, and Unohana and her people quickly began rounding up the various people in the cells. There was a problem when they got there, however. Sasuke and his team found that the four boys they had seen previously, which included the jinchuriki and the brother to Demon Lord. They quickly found out they had all been taken down to the third level after being "damaged" during a visit with a client.

The second level was minimally staffed as it was night, so they quickly managed to gather all those working there and secured it. There hadn't been much there except some "sets" for their films, which usually included some sort of snuff at the end.

Zabuza was one of the first to breech the "kill zone" with Team two. The third level reeked of blood upon entering it. The first room they opened made Zabuza stop and stare. It brought something to mind he had wanted to put out of it. When he'd worked for a man named Gato, when he watched them beat a slave to death… Only going to his wife Reiko and his brother Haku had kept him from bolting that day and dying for disobeying. Still, the memory surged until someone shook him. He blinked and looked to see it was Lavi.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Not really, but are any of us right now?" he asked.

Lavi glanced in the room. It hadn't been cleaned after whoever had used it previously had beaten one of the Blooded to death. The body was still strapped to the board in the back. "Come on," Lavi said. There's more rooms and we have to find the ones that are still alive."

Room after room, they found makeshift torture chambers and way too many bodies. Sasuke threw open the door to a room where he heard screams of pain and saw a man, at least he thought it was a man, he honestly wasn't sure, beating the jinchuriki he'd seen previously with a metal barbed scourge. He turned and glared at Sasuke for about a second before he was gurgling blood from the kunei knife imbedded into his throat. The jinchuriki was hanging by his wrists on a wall and he carefully cut him down with another of his knives. He was shaking but alive.

Grimmjow breeched another room where he heard noises. The occupants, a male and female couple, turned and stared at him where they seemed to be in the middle of something… He frowned and realized they had the white-haired boy with dog ears bound down to a bed and were torturing him with an entire assortment of tools. He took a step forward and punched the man and bashed his elbow into the woman's face. Both fell and the boy on the table was panting as he looked up at him. Grimmjow growled under his breath and started untying him and looking for something to cover him with.

Lenalee and Lavi broke into a room where they heard someone, finding the white-haired boy hanging by his wrists where a man was viciously punching him in the ribs. Lenalee took no time kicking him unconscious with her relic empowered boots. Lavi let the boy down and took off toward the upper levels to get him to the medical team.

Renji and Byakuya found themselves breaking into a room where there was a row of people in various states of dismemberment. Some were alive, but most were not. A large man with powerful muscles was swinging an axe at the neck of the boy with orange hair that Sasuke had shown them. Renji growled, releasing his sword and knocking the man off him and into the wall. Byakuya went to check on those lying in the row awaiting execution. Renji checked the one he had been about to behead and found he was breathing, shallowly, but breathing. He picked him out and took off as Byakuya checked on the others. None were alive still, or at least, none could be saved.

By the time they reached the bottom level, they found no more survivors, and they were grateful that the numbers were significantly less down there. It seemed that after they breeched the top levels, they had started to gather the victims and took them down to be killed in the execution room. Most, if not all of those on the teams, were sickened and disgusted by what they had just seen. They made their way back to the Black Order, taking with them a total of thirty-seven survivors. There had been another twenty-six that were beyond their help or already dead. They arrested a total of sixteen people that were working or patronizing the place. For now, those arrested were only thrown in the dungeons of the Black Order, and the survivors were taken to the dining room where it had been converted into a massive medical area.

Lenalee stood at the door and watched the medical people do what they could. She looked over when Rukia walked up beside her. "That…that was horrific," Rukia said as she looked up at Lenalee.

"We knew it would be bad…but this was so much worse than I could have imagined," she whispered. "So many dead…and just…the state that the ones we brought back were in…I can't even imagine what they went through…"

Sesshōmaru sat beside his brother and waited. He hadn't awoken yet. The Shinigami had used their healing abilities on him already, but they warned Sesshōmaru that the trauma had been extensive. He had not been meant to leave the room he was in alive.

"Inuyasha," he whispered and took his hand that was far too cold. "I'm sorry," he said gently

"He is a Halfblood," Byakuya commented as he walked up beside him.

Sesshōmaru nodded and looked up at him. "Yes, our father fell in love with a human woman when my mother decided to return to Yomi."

Byakuya sighed and put a hand on Sesshōmaru's shoulder. "I commend you for caring for a brother that is not of full demon heritage. I understand you are one of the few Yōkai to remain in the human world."

"My father loved the humans, perhaps that is why, to honor him," he said with a sigh. "I hated him, you know," he said as he kissed his brother's knuckles. "At first. I despised the half breed dog as I called him. Yet…as he grew older, I came to love him."

Byakuya nodded. "Even the most noble of blood must sometimes realize that there is more to life than bloodlines…"

Sesshōmaru nodded and looked over where the other three boys that had been with his brother were similarly laid out unconscious. "He won't want to leave them, but I need to take him back to our city. I will care for him there," he said and stood to go inform the Black Order that he needed to leave with him as soon as possible.

Kanda growled because there was a banging on the inner gate. He shook his head and wondered who had locked themselves out again. No one had come to the outer gate. He pulled open the door and started to yell at whoever it was only to see someone that was not a member of the Black Order.

"How did you get in here?" he asked, but the white skinned figure simply pushed him out of the way with a wave of his hand.

"He's in here," he growled and took off at what had to be a demon increased speed.

Kanda followed him but stopped when he came to the entry to the dining hall. The white skinned figure had gone to the bed where the boy with orange hair and the single demon eye was lying. He had crawled into the bed beside him and was clutching him. Kanda turned and stared at Lenalee who was just as surprised.

"He was inside the gates. No idea how he got there," Kanda told her as she nodded and headed toward the bed where he was.

"Who are you?" Lenalee asked him gently.

The white skinned figure turned one black and gold eye and one honey brown one on her and growled. Lenalee realized that he was a perfectly identical copy of the Blooded on the bed save he was white in color and the opposite eye was black and gold. He tightened his hold on the other one and looked to be close to tears.

"He's going to be okay," she said, glancing over to see several of the others had come closer. "We've healed his wounds. We won't hurt him; we're trying to help."

The white creature turned and nodded. "Okay. I'm…I'm Shiro. We got separated. I couldn't find him. No matter what I did, I couldn't find him. I knew he was in pain. I felt how much he was hurting and I couldn't stop it," he said quietly and seemed to clutch him tighter.

"Are you related to him?" she asked and sat down by his bent knees.

"Depends," Shiro said. "We used to be the same person, then we split apart because we were all alone. He was so sad and lonely, we had to be two to survive," he said and clutched him. "We can become one again, if we need to."

Lenalee nodded. This was something unheard of, a demon splitting into two entities. She was sure that Komui would want to examine them in this case. She glanced at the short white haired boy. Akuma blood, but that was impossible. Akuma couldn't breed with humans like Hollows, Yōkai, or Tailed Beasts. So she had no idea how he could exist…

By the next morning, those that weren't injured began to leave for their homes. The Arrancar returned to Hueco Mundo, retrieved by a pink haired Arrancar that wore rather sensual attire. Lenalee had thought he was rather interesting. What caught her attention was the dark-haired boy that came with him. She looked around as people milled and found the female Shinigami she'd talked to.

"Hey, who's the skinny brunette guy?" she asked.

Rukia looked up and over. "Oh, Uryū Ishida. He's one of the few Quincies left after the Wandenreich split off from them. He stays with Szayelaporro most the time," she said.

"And who's he? He's an Arrancar, right?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, Szayel run the Las Noches brothel," she said and smiled as Szayel knelt in front of one of the female Arrancar who was sobbing. He spoke to her for a long moment then embraced her for a long moment. He then stood with her and put an arm around her and led her to the room where they'd summoned the portal to their realm. "He's also a researcher and doctor. He's an odd guy, but he spends a lot of time helping the ones we send back that have been abused. I don't know his history, but he seems to know a lot about dealing with it."

Lenalee nodded. "Um, hey, I was wondering, since all this has happened, do you think someone from each of the factions could stay here until we're ready to send the injured ones back? And maybe you and that Quincy could stay? I didn't know there were any left, and there's some gaps in our demon knowledge that I would love to fill in."

Rukia thought about it. "That might be a good idea. The Black Order is relatively safe and we could possibly learn a lot, especially since three of these are unusual Bloods. How many are seriously injured enough to need to remain here?"

"There's the four boys, then about six girls that really need to stay for another few days," Lenalee answered.

Rukia nodded and headed off to find her brother. She came around and found him in a very hushed discussion with the Demon Lord. She smirked. Well, wasn't that cute, she thought to herself. She cleared her throat and Byakuya turned and stared at her.

"Nii-sama, I wanted to see if it would be possible for some of us to remain here until the last ten injured victims are returned to their realms. I also suggest seeing if the Quincy Ishida can stay and help us unravel some of the demon lore we're unfamiliar with," she said with a nod of her head.

Byakuya nodded. "That may be for the best. I'll speak to Ishida and see if he is willing to stay and help. Perhaps you and Renji would be best to stay here for Shinigami representation. I believe Grimmjow, considering he's had more experience in the human world that many of the other Arrancar, and possibly one of their other Espada would be suited to remain." He looked at Sesshōmaru who was frowning. "I know you must return to your city, but I can assure you we will care for your brother."

Sesshōmaru sighed and nodded. "Very well. See that I am informed when anything changes."

He turned on his heel, white hair and the fluffy stole he wore swishing behind him. Rukia watched him go. "He's very lordly," she commented.

After a few seconds, she glanced up to realize Byakuya was just staring after him. She shook her head and cleared her throat. He turned to her, blinking. "See if the others are agreeable, I'll speak with the Quincy," he said and headed off.

Several hours later, the group that was remaining with the Black Order was seated around a large, round conference table. Uryū Ishida sat nervously, because honestly, he hadn't thought he'd be called on like this. However, as one of the last Quincy that had not been corrupted, he felt obligated to help them.

Komui stood up, adjusting his glasses and looked around. "Alright, I'm going to do a round of introductions for those of you that might not know each other and briefly explain what our purpose is."

He looked around and saw everyone watching him. "In the last two hundred years, the human world has started to return from the destruction of the Four-Fold Demon War. Now, we all know what happened, but of course, only a few individuals that lived through the War are still alive, including some here. I've brought you all together to attempt to bring peace to Albion. The destruction of our own societies and the descent into depravity and persecution must stop. One idea that has been presented is building an embassy that will link the netherworld realms to the human world in a central location, here in Londinium, and offer a place where emissaries from the realms of the Netherworld will be housed. Any questions on this?" he asked, looking around. None were raised.

"Now, I've invited Uryū Ishida, one of the last remaining uncorrupted Quincy. I'm sure you are all familiar with the Wandenreich territory to the east. Quincy are one of the most well versed groups when it comes to demonology and demonic history. Some of you will be familiar with what he must say but others may not. Now, also in attendance, from the Shinigami we have Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai," he said pointing to each of them. "From the Vizard, Shinji Hirako has agreed to stay for this," he said pointing to the blonde man. "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Tier Harribel are Espada from Las Noches for the Arrancar and hollows. The Lord Sesshōmaru was unable to stay, unfortunately, however he discussed any concerns he had before he left with me. From the black order, I've asked Yu Kanda, Lavi Bookman, and my sister Lenalee to attend. We have a Shinobi, as well, in attendance, Sasuke Uchiha, representing the Halfblood leader Orochimaru."

There was a little murmured discussion and Komui looked at Uryū. "If you please, Mr. Ishida."

Uryū nodded and stood up. "Yes, so the things I'm going to reveal are considered Quincy secrets and are not supposed to be spoken of in front of non-Quincy. However, with the near decimation of my people," he said as he walked to the from and tucked his hands behind his back.

"Since I know some of you are familiar with the history, this may be a repeat, but there may also be things you are unaware of." He took a breath. "Around five hundred years ago, Albion was a prosperous country in a wide world. We were busy and industrious, and then, someone got too industrious. It is unclear who was the first to delve into the Book of Nether, but someone opened a book that should never be opened by humans. In doing so, humans gained he attention of the King of Hell, or rather, the ruler of the Netherworld that exists adjacent to our world."

He looked around, seeing everyone was enraptured. Now was the part that many were unaware of. "All of them are aware of the four demon factions. Hollows, Akuma, Yōkai, and the Tailed Beasts. These four nearly destroyed our world when the Akuma wanted to enslave all humans, in particular the humanoid appearing demons called the Noahs that exist well evolved past the normal weapon like Akuma. Now, this is all basic, but the fact is that we opened the gates, humans, that is. We used the Book of Nether and opened a gateway into Limbo, or the Dangai as some call it. We couldn't enter at first. Then the relics started falling through to our world from the Dangai." He glanced at the people from the Black Order. "The Black Order began finding them, mistakenly calling them Innocence because they gave humans power to fight off the minor demon incursions. The Quincies found them," he dropped the bracelet from his wrist for the others to see. "We refined it into a focus that we could use to warp reality around us to summon our power." He held up his arm and summoned the glowing blue bow for a second before letting it dissipate. "At first, the only thing to come through were the minions of the Demon Lords. The Succubus and Incubus came through, as the first level of the nether after the Dangai is the Ring of Desire. However, the Dangai connects all but one of the lower seven levels to the human world." He looked around. "The Hollows hail from the Ring of Hollowness, or Emptiness, if you want to refer to it as that. The Yomi is the Ring of Transformation and home to Yōkai Demons. The Akuma come from Destros, the Ring of Destruction. The Tailed Beasts are from the Ring of Rage and Wrath. Now, this leaves three other levels. The Ring of Wishes is the home of the Djinn, or genies as we call them most the time. They, however, are uninterested in human affairs with rare exception."

He paused. "There is one level where the residents have always been connected to the human world, and through which the Book of Nether originated. The Penumbra, or the Ring of Shadows is the place where the Goetian Demons are from. They are a Bond Demons. They normally do not enter the human world, but there are several families that have been able to summon and Bond with them for several thousand years. These Demons are utterly faithful to their human masters in exchange for whatever pact is formed with the Demon. For this reason, they are rarely spoken of. They blend in completely with the world around them. They exude no demonic energy. They are, however, full blood demons."

Uryū sighed. "The part that is most concerning is the final level of the Netherworld where the self-described King of Hell is confined. Or rather, was confined. Also, known as the spirit of treachery, this being is feared even by the other demons and has been kept confined for longer than memory. The concern is that during the Demon War…they escaped the Ring of treachery and their chains. They are in the human world, and it is them, in whatever guise they have chosen, that is causing the chaos."

There was a long silence. "Most of the last is speculation. However, it is based in many theories that have been around for the last two hundred years," Uryū continued. "The part of the King of Hell that is the most dangerous is that they represent treachery, including against their own. They care not for demon or human, they only wish to see betrayal against each other. If all the Demon Bloods are gone, they will turn the humans on each other. I believe that they are what happened to the Quincies, poisoned by the very knowledge they were seeking," he said and sighed deeply. He sat down. "That's all I can offer right now."

There was a long silence. "Any thoughts on the fact that we have three Demon Bloods that shouldn't be able to exist?" Lenalee said, looking around.

"Jinchuriki are not unknown," Sasuke said and looked at her. "We've known of at a least six born of the different Tailed Beast Demon Lords. This one just appears to be the child of the nine tailed Fox Demon Lord, that is the leader of the Tailed Beasts," he said as he looked around.

"So, we have two that are direct children of Demon Lords," Komui said, looking around. "The brother of Lord Sesshōmaru and the child of Lord Kyuubi," he said with a deep sigh. "And the other two?" he said, looking around. "We're experts mostly on the Akuma demons, and I can't explain the boy with the Akuma eye and curse mark. They either convert humans into Akuma or they kill them."

"Unless the evolved Noah can produce progeny?" Rukia said from the other side of the table. "Most of the Shinigami are descended of Arrancar and human Halfbloods. The blood is diluted in most of us, but we retain some of the power."

"Never seen the like," Uryū muttered. "There are very specific rules on producing Demon Bloods…"

"There are?" Komui asked with a frown.

Uryū looked at him. "Um, yes, there are different dynamics…uh…most prolific are the Hollow Demons…" he said, starting to flush a bit.

"Yeah, we like to fuck a lot," Grimmjow said with a shrug. "Don't matter what. We can breed with whatever we want, just depends on their alpha/beta status." When everyone stared at him. "Really? Alright, so Hollows are genderless, well, we express a gender but it doesn't matter. Both me and Tier are alphas, so if we fuck a beta, they get pregnant with our child, not either of us. I mean, a human male can't be impregnated, obviously, but an alpha Hollow can impregnate a female human, and a male human, provided they express enough alpha tendencies, can impregnate a male or female Hollow."

Uryū nodded. "Um, yes. Though there is some evidence, there may be alterations to male humans that would make them able to carry Arrancar babies," he said and looked like he was blushing a bit. "Ah, Yōkai are similar, they have a semi alpha/beta structure. Their males can get any female pregnant, and occasionally the rare male beta Yōkai. Tailed Beasts can only have children with a female once they have transformed into a humanoid appearance."

"What of the others? The Djinn and the pact demons?" Renji asked.

"They are unable to reproduce at all. Part of the reason they avoid conflict is because their numbers are limited. They are immortal, but they can be killed," Uryū said with a nod at them.

The group sat for a long moment trying to understand everything. "Um, and that weird one? The one that is two demons?" Lavi asked, looking at Uryū.

Grimmjow shook his head. "He's obviously Hollow descended, but I've never heard of one splitting like that. I mean, one of the Arrancar has done that, our Primera Espada, he was too powerful and his being split into a second entity, but she is not near his power, and only a sliver of his consciousness. This, this is different. They aren't the same creature anymore, they are distinctly different, and if what I've heard is true, they turn into something that appears to be a full Blood demon when they rejoin each other."

Uryū nodded. "I've heard rumors of the 'white demon'. I thought they were exaggerations, but it obvious they aren't."

"You could always ask me, rather than talk about me," came a voice from the rafters. Komui looked up as the white skinned demon dropped down easily to crouch behind them.

Everyone stared at him. "We thought you wouldn't want to leave the other one," Komui said.

Shiro snorted and walked around the table, taking in everyone. "Always fucking trying to figure out what we are…" he muttered. "I'll tell you what we fucking are, and we're not your experiment. I'll take my Ichi and leave with him before I allow that. And in case you hadn't noticed, I'm fucking good at getting in and out of places."

"You couldn't get into Purgatory," Grimmjow said with a smirk.

Before he realized it, he was on his back, his chair tipped back and the white creature straddling his chest. Black claws were extended from his fingers right at his throat. Others stood up but Grimmjow snorted.

"Feisty. I like it," he muttered.

Shiro growled and got up. "No I couldn't get into Purgatory," he said as he turned away. "And my Ichi suffered for it."

Grimmjow sat up again. "Look, ain't yer fault, that place was locked down tighter than a drum. But we got him and the others out, that's what matters."

Shiro glared and him and gave him a curt nod. "I suppose. But it still doesn't take away the fact that someone is trying to kill us all."

"That's why we're here, Shiro. To protect everyone, human and Demon included," Komui said.

Shiro looked at him. "I only want to protect one person, and that's my Ichi. The rest can go fuck themselves. But if I must protect them to protect my Ichi, I'll do it," he muttered and flopped into one of the empty chairs, kicking his feet up and draping them over Grimmjow's lap. "Alright, bitches. Let's do this."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Las Noches

"Sir!" came the insistent voice from near Komui in the middle of the night.

"What?" he said as he sat up.

"We're under attack!"

Komui sat up and heard fighting. "What…" he muttered, grabbing his glasses and running from his room.

"What's happening?" he called as he came into the main room where the injured were laid out.

The Shinigami Rukia looked at him. "There's a group outside trying to breech the wall. Their leader said that the Band of Seven demands the release of the demons into their custody. The Akuma are back as well offering cover fire to these seven. Kanda, Tier, Shinji, and several others are out engaging them."

Komui growled. "We can't do that. They need to be protected."

"I can take them to the Seireitei," she offered.

Grimmjow walked up. "No, they'll know that's where they'd be. Get them ready. We're taking them to Hueco Mundo. Las Noches is by far the safest place right now. For one thing, it's not on this realm, and not just anyone can open a portal. The Seireitei is based in the human world."

Considering their options, it was the best one. Before long, the ten unconscious victims had been each handed off to someone to carry them through the Dangai into the Ring of Emptiness and the great city of Las Noches. Shiro had Ichigo, of course. Renji had taken up Sesshōmaru's brother. Lavi had taken the white haired Akuma boy, and Sasuke had taken the Jinchuriki. Rukia, Tier, Lenalee, and Grimmjow had taken four of the females that were still unconscious. Uryū, of course, had come along as well to return to Las Noches. Two of them, a pair of Arrancar named Loly and Menoly, had recovered enough to walk on their own.

They exited on the seemingly endless sands of the empty realm of the Netherworld. Those that hadn't been to another realm were left a bit nauseous and fraught with vertigo for a moment. Lenalee, Lavi, Sasuke, and Rukia all appeared to have been affected. Grimmjow looked over.

"It'll pass. If it's your first time, doesn't last long. Come on, we've got a bit of a trek. I put us down a ways from Las Noches in case someone tracks the garganta I used," he said as he led them toward a huge structure in the distance. As they got closer, it was a massive dome.

"That's Las Noches?" Rukia asked.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yup. Las Noches is the name for our city. In case you didn't notice, the ambient energy here is draining power away from us as we walk. It isn't smart to stay in the wastes for more than a few hours, or you'll become a meal for them." In the distance they heard the howling of the lesser hollows. "The only good thing the rogue shinigami did for us was build this place." He glanced at Rukia who was starting to stumble. "As you can see, the ones most affected are our kin, the demon blooded of the hollows. So he built it for himself, but evolved hollows feel it too. The further away you get from base level, the stronger the drain. Reverse of what happens in the realm of the Akuma, where the stronger they are the more the ambient energy feeds them. But, this is the realm of emptiness after all. So if you're eaten by one of them out there, you can't get much emptier," he muttered as they came to a massive wall. It had to stand two hundred feet high.

Grimmjow stopped and motioned again, but this time he only opened a portal through the solid wall. They came out into a wide walkway and overhead there was a mock sun in the sky. "I've brought us in by Szayel's Castle, since that's the easiest place to hide them," Grimmjow said as he walked toward a gate in a fence that stood ten feet high along the white brick path.

Tier came up beside him and they pushed a button beside the tall, solid iron gate. There was a pause and then the gate was opened. The one with the pink hair with barely more than a teddy on answered the gate.

"Uryū!" he exclaimed, completely ignoring the rest as he bounded out of the gate and snatched up the black haired Quincy and pulled him into a deep kiss.

Grimmjow sighed. "Szayel, ya fruity bitch, these people aren't getting lighter. Fuck yer boyfriend on yer own time!"

Szayel released Uryū, who stumbled back red faced and blinking. "And stop using your pheromones on him all the damn time, yer gonna scramble the poor boy's brain," he muttered as he shoved through the gate past the slightly dazed looking Quincy and the smirking Szayel.

"Alight, loves, welcome to my love castle," he said with a smirk.

The others looked at him and followed him through an open garden area that surrounded the place and into a large, open room where several male and female courtesans sat around. The place had a very old Earth Arabian theme to it, with ornate columns and alcoves. Every bit of exposed wall was carved expressively.

"A brothel?" Rukia said and looked at Grimmjow. "We can't take them to brothel! Not after what…"

"Look, do you want them to be safe or not? Last place anyone will look is here," Grimmjow said and saw Szayel was molesting Uryū again against the wall. Uryū's hands were splayed flat on the wall and Szayel was in the process of apparently trying to find out how far down his throat his tongue would go while grinding a knee into his crotch. "Szayel!" Grimmjow snapped.

"Oh, sorry," he muttered, turning around, but holding one hand on Uryū's arm so when he slumped down, he didn't fall. "He's been gone so long though!"

"He's been gone a day!" Grimmjow reiterated. "Fuck, I swear you are the horniest fucker I've ever met. Show us to the closed rooms, please," he said with a sigh.

Szayel smiled and pulled a stumbling Uryū along behind him as they took the stairs down to a lower level. "These rooms aren't used anymore, but they're all kept well. Now, they're rather plain, but I'm sure if you need to dress them up you can figure something out."

As they took the stairs Lenalee glanced at Rukia. "Um, is the Quincy okay?"

Rukia looked at her and nodded. "Ah, yeah, Alpha hollow bloods, and bloodeds, exude a pheromone when they're around their mate. Only affects their mate, but it puts them a submissive state. Sort of a calming effect, or in this case, an aroused state. The state it puts the beta in varies according to the alpha."

Lenalee watched as the lights flicked on and it was a long hallway with four doors one either side of it and one at the end. They were all covered in ornate wood doors, but as they passed them, each of the eight rooms had different carvings. Szayel led them to the end of the hallway and opened the last door to the left. As they entered they were surprised. The room was huge. Szayel smiled and turned back.

"The hallway is infused with a bit of a magic to make it shorter, that way you don't have to walk forever to get down to all he rooms. Once everyone's in here, we'll remove the glamor," he said as he turned around.

The room was enormous, and had at least eight bedrooms with four on each side. There was a large common room, and open kitchen and dining room. "There's four baths, one shared by a pair of bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bed that fits four comfortably, and a sofa. There's the three living area sofas, and of course, each bath has a large tub. So, now, those who are in need of medical, I'd like to move one of the other beds into one room, so there is a room for the four boys and the four girls that are still ill." He turned to Loly and Menoly. "Sweeties, you'll come up to the med bay with me, and I'll have a look at you, then we'll get you set up in a private room."

Uryū had seemed to come out of his drunken seeming state. "I'll see to these, Szay," he commented and smiled at him.

"Good, button, good," Szayel said and kissed his cheek. "Do hurry, I've missed my button."

Uryū blushed deeply at that and turned to help get the beds moved around.

In about an hour, a pair of the bedrooms that were adjoined by a bath were now equipped with two of the very large beds, and a pair of the large couches for whoever was on watch with them. Uryū flopped onto the bed in the room with the four boys. Lenalee sat down beside him.

"What's up with the weird way you act around the pink haired guy?" she asked.

Grimmjow looked up from where he was checking over the monitors they'd put on the dog eared boy. Shiro snorted from where he'd snuggled in beside Ichigo. He'd put himself between Ichigo and Naruto who shared the bed with him. Uryū had gone totally red and put his hands over his face.

"Uryū's a beta bitch," Shiro said with a smirk.

"But he's human, a Quincy," Lenalee said with confusion.

Again Shiro snorted. "Yeah? And you're a beta too, honey, just like me 'n Ichi, and actually all these boys are betas. Grimmy over there's alpha as fuck, and so is that Rukia honey."

Grimmjow stared at him. "How can you tell that? It takes months to figure out if a non-hollow is an alpha or beta."

"I can tell when I meet someone," he said with a snort. "Think of me as distilled and concentrated hollow instincts, bled off my Ichi. That's why he's in such a bunch of trouble without me. I'm everything hollow, and he's everything human."

"So…all of them, even the noble borns, are betas?" Grimmjow asked, arching a brow as he looked them over.

"Oh yeah. And that Renji is an alpha, too. So, if Rukia wants him, it ain't happening. Two alphas don't mate well," he said with a shake of his head. "Unless they take on a powerful beta that needs two alphas together, then they'd be okay together." He paused and stared at Grimmjow. "Yo, what's with you and the dog boy? I thought you liked me," he said with a pout.

"What?" Grimmjow said as he stared at him.

Shiro pouted again, snuggling into Ichigo's hair. "I smelled it when I was straddling ya."

"Fuck, I've never seen a fucking hollow blood with that sort of nose," Szayel said from the doorway. "Come on, button."

Uryū was up and gone with him without a word to anyone else. "Button?" Lenalee said, looking at Grimmjow.

"He sews, Uryū that is. When he started coming here, Szayel had him fixing the courtesans clothes. Well, he told him one day that he thought he was cute as a button. Uryū evaded him for a while, but eventually Szayel's charm, and perversion, won out," Grimmjow said with a sigh. "Unfortunately for me, it was me that caught them in the middle of their first mating."

"I still don't understand this, Uryū's not even blooded," Lenalee said with a frown.

"Don't matter none, honey. Powerful hollow bloods can use the mating bond on any beta, even one from another demon line or a human. We are demons, after all," Shiro muttered.

Grimmjow moved around between the beds and sat down beside Ichigo's legs where Shiro had wrapped his over Ichigo's thighs. "Hey, I didn't know you were interested in an alpha."

"Ain't never had one interested in us," Shiro responded, burying his head further into Ichigo's orange locks.

"Hey, don't do that," Grimmjow said and rubbed his hand over Shiro's head. "We can mate if ya want," he said and winked a blue eye at him.

Shiro pouted. "No. You want to fuck the dog boy. So leave us alone," he said and flopped over toward the other boy."

Grimmjow sighed and shook his head, going to sit by Lenalee. She looked at him. "What was that bout?"

"Foreplay," Grimmjow muttered. "He's a bratty beta. So you know, he's gonna make me work. Plus he won't do anything until Ichigo wakes up. Mostly because it's a two for one deal."

"He said you want to 'mate' the noble boy?" she asked.

"'Course, I'd fuck every one of 'em, they're all betas. I mean, I've fucked Uryū before a couple times," he said with a shrug.

"I thought he was Szayel's mate?" she asked.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, he is. But it doesn't mean he doesn't want others to fuck him now and then. I mean, Uryū's not my mate, but he could be if Szayel wanted someone else to share him like that. Just the nature of how we do things."

Lenalee nodded, seeing Rukia coming in. "How are these?" she asked and sat down.

"Not bad," Lenalee responded and sighed as she felt her heart flutter a bit. What was happening to her? That seemed to happen every time Rukia came around.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ciel paced in an extreme amount of annoyance. "What do you mean there was another attack?" he growled at Sebastian.

"Just that, m'lord," Sebastian said with a smirk.

"What about the Blooded they rescued from Purgatory?" he asked.

Sebastian stood behind Ciel and ran both hands down his ribs. "They're gone."

"Where?" Ciel answered, letting Sebastian slide his pants over his hips.

Sebastian started laying sucking kisses down his smaller partner's neck. "Hueco Mundo. I felt them cross the Dangai," he murmured against the wet skin.

Ciel sighed, melting into the demon's touches. Twenty years now Sebastian had been everything to him and more. He'd been ten when he took the bond. Sebastian's end seemed small at the time, of course, to a ten-year-old boy wracked with rage and guilt at the death of his parents. He hadn't understood the meaning of the demon's one request.

 _"I'll give you all you desire, your revenge, everything. In return, I only ask for you to give yourself to me, mind, body, and soul however I may desire it."_

As a child, Sebastian had asked nothing of him. He did what his young master wanted without question. Of course, the magic was what slowed Ciel's aging. It was purely selfish on his demon consort's part; which Sebastian would never admit aloud. Sebastian had lost so many of his bonded. He refused to let another human die after a mere fifty or sixty years of life. In the bond, his magic had slowed his young master's aging to a crawl. Sebastian had been bound to the Phantomhives for nearly six hundred years, and a different family for another two thousand before it. He tired of new masters, and at the birth of the child, he swore that he would not lose another of his bonded to the claws of time. In essence, Sebastian had given his young master a piece of his immortality. The act itself was forbidden, because what he had done ensured that Sebastian's life was entwined with the mortal life of Ciel. As long as one lived, they both would live, but if one died, they both would perish.

Ciel Phantomhive, though, the moment he had sensed the soul within him, was the last he would bond to, and he knew it. So, when his master met his twentieth year, Sebastian had informed him of what he was required to give, and that was everything. The young man found it more than enjoyable, however, to be on the receiving end of the demon's touches and became nearly as insatiable as the demon. Sebastian knew that it was an effect of what he'd done. They were forever bonded in every way, and neither could resist each other. For the last ten years, Sebastian had sated every desire of his smaller bonded, and in return he'd found Ciel desired more and more. Despite the youth his body displayed, he was far from innocent. Sebastian wondered anymore who the demon was…

The soft huffing breaths as Sebastian worked his way down Ciel's spine with his kisses and nips as his hands slid down to his hips.

"Seb-as-tian…" Ciel whispered. "Please…"

"Yes, my lord," he whispered as he traced his wickedly long tongue down the crease of his body to his prized destination.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Button, button," Szayel said as he pressed Uryū over the exam table, hands already tracing over his hips. "How has button been?"

"Hah, fine, please…" he panted. "You've been putting out the pheromones nonstop, Szay…please…."

Szayel smirked. "Okay, okay, just a minute," he muttered as he slid his trousers just enough off his hips enough to wriggle two slender fingers into him before slipping them out and slamming up into him suddenly.

"Ah," Uryū exhaled and gripped the table hard. "Harder, Szay…" he growled.

"Oh, yes, Button," Szayel said, shifting his glasses up his nose as he slammed into him hard enough to rattle the table.

In the next room, Loly and Menoly looked up as they heard the noises. "Never mind that, girls," came another voice. They looked up to see an Arrancar standing there with a helm of sorts on his head. He wore a tiger striped scarf and a black suit. He didn't have shirt under the jacket. His brilliant yellow gold eyes were focused on the two girls. "Szayel thinks if he doesn't fuck Uryū once a day that he's gonna explode," he muttered as he smiled at them.

He moved around and sat beside them. "So, welcome. I'm sure you've got questions about this place?"

"Loly and I were in that other place, so it…well, being in another brothel is a little hard," Menoly said, brushing a hand over her dark hair. It fell around her shoulders in a unkempt corona at the moment.

"I'm Ggio Vega. I'm like the second around here. I help Szayel run this place, and trust me, it is nothing like that place you were in. For one thing, everyone here works here because they enjoy it, not becase they're made to do it. I know it is hard, after what you were forced to do, but you aren't here to work here at all. Just, this is the one of the safer places from the people looking for you. Szayel works really hard to make srue that this place s the most secure castle around here," Ggio said with a smile.

"Why is that?" Menoly asked, her hand interlocking with Loly's. "Why is that so important?"

"Well, for one thing, a lot of the people here are running. Sometimes they are staying here for a while, and sometime they are staying forever. Some work here as courtesans, others as helpers of some sort. Cooks, maids, you know, that sort. Then others go off to other castles." Ggio looked up as one of the other Purgatory victims was led into the room, a young man with short blond hair and an eyepatch. Ggio looked up at Cirucci as she led Tesla into the room.

"Ggio, honey, Tesla here was having a bit of a pain in the room with the others. Can he sit in the cool down room with you?" she asked, sitting him in an armchair.

"Of course," Ggio said and smiled.

Loly and Menoly exchanged a look. "Cool down room?" Loly asked with a frown.

Ggio nodded. "This is like the room where the courtesans can come rest when they're not wanting to work, but they aren't wanting to be alone for a reason or another." He turned to Tesla. "What's going on?"

Tesla shook his head. "I just, I feel weird being here, instead of that place," he said.

"You were down in the film level, right?" Ggio said.

Tesla nodded. "Yeah," he said and gestured to his missing eye were his hollow hole was. "They sad I was too ugly for the brothel," he said with a sigh.

"Fuck that," a new voice said behind them.

Ggio looked up to see Nnoitra was standing in the doorway, one of the girls from upstairs on his arm. She kissed his cheek when he leaned down and went into the other half of the room. "You're fucking gorgeous," he said as he stared at him.

Tesla blushed immediately and ducked his head. Nnoitra moved over and knelt in front of him. "Come with me?" he asked. "Come to my castle. I…I want to have you. I have never wanted to mate a beta before now. Come, please. I'll give you everything you want."

Tesla blinked his one eye and stared. "What…why?"

"I dunno. Just do," Nnoitra said and they could all smell the sudden release of pheromones from the tall, lanky alpha demon. "You smell like the sweetest thing in the worlds to me. And I want to take you and fuck you over every surface in my castle."

Nnoitra stood up and reached out for him. Tesla swallowed and nodded. "Yes, master," he whispered and took his hand. Nnoitra smirked and yanked him into his arms. He leaned down and kissed him for a long moment before dragging him out the door with a near drunk look on his face.

Ggio smirked. "Well, that's one way, I suppose…"

Loly and Menoly glanced at each other. "I don't want to work as a courtesan, but I don't want to be with someone as their beta," Loly said.

"Of course not, I assumed you two were already mated," Ggio said as he looked between them. "Menoly here's an alpha, so I just assumed you were already mates."

Loly blushed. "Well, it wasn't possible in…ah…there…"

Ggio smiled. "Here, let's get you set up with a more permanent room for now instead of the medical rooms," he said and led them out.0

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"Alright, so I got put on bitch tour duty," Grimmjow said with a grumble as he led the group outside the fence to Szayel's place. He turned and looked around. The two Shinigami, Rukia and Renji, the three Black Order guys, and the shinobi. And Shiro was walking beside him. "Now, I'm gonna show you bunch around because I might not be able to do it later on. So now, here we go. This is Szayel's castle," he said and pointed to the one they just exited.

"Szayel runs the brothel, which is open to anyone, and there's a special portal for people outside Heuco Mundo to get to the place. It has link in a couple cities in the human world," Grimmjow said, looking them over. "But he's also the head of the medical wing, which is also in his castle. He also runs the research wing, which is the second level of his castle. Don't go up there without his knowledge. And as you saw, his basement is rooms built with a demon spell on the entire place. This place is a fortress unto itself," Grimmjow explained.

"Each one of the Espada, or leaders, of the Arrancar has a Castle. I dunno why we call it that, we just do. Like, Szayel's looks like a castle, and Barragan's but others don't. Anyway, some of us have bigger castles, others not so much. Come on, head north here along this path." He stopped and pointed to another walled area. "I'm not showing you inside every Castle. But that's Harribel and her girls. She also has the Tiburon Pools. They got all kinds of water shit. So those are public. To your left, that's the Lugar de Reunion, memorial for those lost in the wars and stuff. And up there," he pointed to a hedged area. "That's the Moon garden," he commented as they passed it.

Rukia had managed to walk near Lenalee. She glanced over as they passed the pools. "I love to swim, maybe we should check it out later," she commented.

Lenalee looked at her. "Haven't you been here before?"

"Yeah, but never have time to go to the pools. I hear she has all sorts of therapeutic pools with salts, minerals, and oils…" Rukia said with a smile. As they passed, they could see the pools and smell rushing water.

They came around the corner and Grimmjow gestured to a large building that looked kind of like an apartment building. "Now, this is my Castle. I don't stay there much, I'm always on bitch detail to the human world. I have my followers in there. Next to me is Nnoitra, then Ulquiorra, both solitary sorts."

He stopped by a large walled area next to his place. "Nnoitra has an arena, like a gladiator thing, that he runs. He's a big fighter type. He likes contests," he said as he continued and gestured to the small and plain looking house behind a simple iron fence. In the yard, a small pale man was watering roses. "Ulquiorra has a thing for roses," he muttered.

"Now, over there," he pointed down a business looking area. "That's the Mercado. All sorts of people come to set up shop and sell." The Mercado was a series of open tents where people could set up and sell whatever they liked, it appeared.

They walked down and there was another larger castle, but this one was more formal looking. "At the end here is Starrk's Castle, he's in charge these days." Everyone stopped and looked around for a moment. "Any questions so far?"

"What do each of you _do_?" Lavi asked, having been rather quiet so far and just taking in the world.

Grimmjow blinked. "What do you mean, do?" He was confused. "We do whatever we want. We're the strongest and most capable of the hollows. We control them. That's what we do."

Rukia glanced over at him. "Hollows, unlike humans, need structure and control. They're creatures of instinct, and if they don't have someone that sets the rules, this land is chaos," she explained. "They recognize the strongest as their leaders."

Lavi nodded slowly as they turned the corner to head south they saw a large, extravagant looking castle. "Barragan, he's pretentious," Grimmjow muttered as they continued. "He has a bunch of followers, but some like Ggio prefer to work with others."

They turned to the left again. "Over here on the right we have Aaroniero, Zommari, and Yammy. They're all solo, so they got small places."

They passed the first place, Aaroniero's, and saw that it was a large building, but it wasn't extravagant looking. The next one was Zommari's and there was a wafting scent of some sweet smoke from it. Renji covered his nose and sighed. "I hate that smell."

"What is that?" Lenalee asked as they moved past it.

"Zommari runs…ah for want of a better word, a drug den. The smell is a type of hollow bred hallucinogenic plant that can be smoked," Rukia answered. "I mean, they're careful and all. Once you go in, you can't leave until you're sober again.

Lenalee nodded. She looked over to note that Shiro hadn't spoken the entire trip. He just walked with his arms crossed over his chest and looked around as they passed things. She got the feeling something was wrong with the demon, and she wasn't sure how to deal with it. He seemed…bowed.

Yammy's castle was another simple looking thing. Grimmjow commented, "He's rarely here, he's usually out in the sands corralling hollows that are causing trouble."

They came down to the end and were facing the walls of Szayel's again. "And now, see, at the end is Szayel's place again. So there ya are. Any questions?"

"When is the Mercado open?" Kanda asked. "And what sort of things are sold there?"

"Well, depends on who is selling. A lot of the Arrancar sell different things, arts, sometimes Szayel sets up a Fuck booth…" Grimmjow said.

"A what?" Lenalee asked.

"Like a kissing booth, you know, but you buy a fuck," he said with a shrug. "Can be fun. Anyway, but they also see gadgets and stuff sometimes."

The Black Order group seemed a little put off by the open sexuality of the Arrancar. "Why are you lot so fucking uptight about fucking?" Grimmjow said with an arched brow. "I mean, seriously, it's just fucking."

Lenalee blushed. "Well, I just think it means something more than just that."

"Sometimes, yeah," Rukia said with a smirk. "But there's times just to have some fun," she said with a shrug.

Lenalee felt a blush cross her cheeks again. She was about to say something when they saw someone come out of the gate, a girl with long, curly purple hair. "Grimmjow, they're awake, we need you guys inside, now!" she said urgently.


	5. Chapter 5

Ichigo felt heavy. He felt like he was weighed down by something, and it felt like his eyelids were glued shut. He struggled with this for a minute before he sighed and wondered if he should try or just let it be. Shiro, though. He needed to find Shiro. His eyes came open and he found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The last thing he remembered was being told they were going to be killed before the night was through. He reached over and felt another body beside him. He turned his head to the side and saw a head of blond hair. Naruto?

He slowly, and rather painfully, sat up. Groaning, he looked around to find they were all four in two big beds in a large bedroom of some sort. He saw someone seated on a sofa that looked like they were asleep. He couldn't tell immediately if it was a man or a woman, but they were scantily clad with pink hair pulled back from their face. He shook Naruto beside him, but he was still out it seemed. Inuyasha was on the next bed to them, and Allen was on the other side of the it. He could see that all of them were bandaged, and he himself had been cared for as well.

Where was he, though? He slipped out of the bed and quietly moved past the person sitting on the sofa. He got to the door and opened it quietly. He had to find out where they were and how to get out. He had to find Shiro. He snuck out into the hallway and was for a moment disorientated because he could tell immediately that it was longer than it appeared. Down the hallway he went, finding a set of stairs at the end of the hallway. He made his way up the stairs and stopped at the top where there was an open door. There was a woman standing there with green hair and a horned skull on the top of her head. She had her back to the door he had just come through, but she looked alert for anything around her.

She was in between him and what looked like the door to the outside, so he snuck around the side and saw a set of stairs going up. He made his way to those stairs and crouched down beside them. The woman still had her back to him, and she looked like she was looking at someone else. Then he heard a male voice, and she responded. His breath caught. There was more than one person there. He had to get up the stairs and find a place to hide and think.

He managed to sneak up the stairs without her noticing him. Coming up to the top of the stairs, he saw that he was in a wide-open room. He had no idea where he was, but he knew he had to figure out a way out of this place, so he could find Shiro. He heard people moving around nearby so he ducked down and opened a door to hide in a darkened room.

Downstairs, Allen was the next one to come to consciousness. He felt the throbbing in his ribcage before he even opened his eyes. It felt like everything had been broken in his ribs and he couldn't help the whine that he emitted when it hit him. He blinked sleepily, turning his head to the side and seeing a head of silvery hair that he knew belonged to the dog demon boy, Inuyasha. He was on a bed with him. He heard someone moving, a shuffling of feet and his breath caught in his throat. Who was there? He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and didn't want to know. He was really in too much pain to move.

"Are you awake, sweetie?" he heard a man's voice nearby.

His eyes opened, and he was staring at a scantily clad guy with pink hair and glasses. "What? Where am I?" he panicked immediately. He pulled away from this strange man and ended up almost kneeing Inuyasha in the face. His movement did wake the dog-eared boy, however. He sucked in a deep breath and rolled his eyes over toward Allen and the stranger. He also looked like he was about to panic as he scrambled off the bed to fall to the floor.

Allen covered his head with his hands and pulled his legs to his chest, which was painful to do. He nearly sobbed out at the lancing pains that shot through his middle. Inuyasha had taken up a place against the wall in a defensive stance.

"Easy, easy," Szayel said, holding both hands out in front of him. "You're safe."

"Who are you?" Inuyasha asked, claws displayed.

"You're in Las Noches, in Hueco Mundo. Safe from Purgatory," Szayel said gently. "I'm Szayel, and I'm an Arrancar so you're not in any danger. See, you don't have any sealing cuffs on any longer."

Inuyasha didn't move but looked around him. He was panting from the exertion already. "What…what happened?"

"There was a raid on Purgatory by the Black Order and a few other people. Everyone got out that could be saved." Szayel still put himself between them and the doorway. "Wait, where's the other one?"

"Allen, are you alright?" Inuyasha asked, hands starting to tremble from the effort he was putting into standing.

Allen looked up and nodded. "I'm fine. I hurt, but I'm fine."

Szayel smiled and moved to sit on the bed beside Allen. Naruto was still out, and he could tell how frightened they were. "You've all been treated. But it seems like your friend got out of the room without me knowing."

He leaned over and pressed a button on the wall and it made a buzzing sound. "Yes?" came a woman's voice.

"Summon the others back. Our patients have woken up," he said and clicked off the com.

"Aren't you worried about Ichigo?" Inuyasha asked, dropping down to one knee and heaving a deep breath

"He can't get outside the building, so he's somewhere in here. He probably is scared like you…" Szayel started.

"I'm not scared!" Inuyasha snapped, dropping down to his other knee and taking a few more deep breaths.

"Come back to the bed," he said and beaconed him over. "We'll find your friend, and we'll get you all up to speed on where you are and who we are."

Inuyasha couldn't do much except stumble back to the bed and drop into it already exhausted by the effort. Szayel looked up as Grimmjow came into the room with Shiro right behind him.

"Wait, where's Ichigo?" Shiro asked, looking franticly around the room.

"Relax, Shiro. He's somewhere in the castle. He just woke up and snuck away. I'm sure we'll find him before too long," Szayel assured.

"I have to find him," Shiro said, staring at Grimmjow.

"I'll take him to go look," Grimmjow growled, nodding at Szayel.

Szayel smiled at them and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. He can't have gone far."

"What you get for wearing yourself out fucking your bitch," Grimmjow muttered as he disappeared out the door with Shiro.

Lenalee and Rukia came into the room and walked over to the bed. The last one laying there groaned and rolled his head. Lenalee put a hand on his leg until his blue eyes finally opened and stared back at them. He, like the others, gasped out and began trying to push back on the bed. He whined though and stopped moving, obviously aggravating the wounds on his back.

"Shhh," Rukia said as she held up both hands. "You're all safe."

Allen looked between Szayel and the two women. "Is it true? You rescued everyone?"

"We did. We got in there and got everyone out that we possibly could," Lenalee confirmed. "You're in Las Noches because there was an Akuma attack on the Black Order again. We had to get you all somewhere safe, and the stronghold of the Arrancar is the safest place we could take you."

"What's the Black Order?" Inuyasha asked as he leaned against the head of the bed with his hands draped between his knees.

Lenalee smiled at him. "You haven't heard of us?" she asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "I lived in our hometown until it was raided by Akuma and they locked me away for a while. Then they were taking me somewhere else and I escaped."

"We're known as demon hunters," she told him. "But we have a lot of demon blooded and half bloods in our ranks. We also use demonic relics called Innocence to help us. We don't hunt demons unless they are preying on humans in some way."

Inuyasha stared at her for a moment then looked at Rukia. "Who are you? Are you with the Black Order?"

"No, I'm with the Shinigami. I'm Rukia. Have you heard of us at least?" she asked.

"I think so," he said and nodded. "You are kind of like police officers for blooded and half-bloods."

"I guess you could say that. We often police demons and humans alike. We don't abide by destruction. We try and keep a handle on both demons and humans in the world."

Rukia moved to sit down on the sofa with a soft smile. Allen still looked wary, but he didn't say anything. Naruto didn't seem to be capable of arguing the point with his injuries. He did turn his head to the side and then asked hoarsely, "Where's Ichigo?"

"They're looking for him," Szayel confirmed. "He's in the building somewhere, just woke up and snuck away while I was sleeping."

"You fell asleep?" Rukia scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah," Szayel said, waving a hand toward her. "I guess Button wore me out."

"Well, if you didn't have to fuck him every which way when you see him, maybe you wouldn't get so tired out by him!" Rukia said and rolled her eyes expressively.

Szayel sighed and crossed his legs. "Well, he was gone a whole day."

Lenalee just kind of stared between the two of them, still getting used to the open way they talked about sex around this place. It was so much different than anything she'd ever been around. She cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Let me check your bandages, if you don't mind," she said to the three boys that were staring back and forth between Szayel and Rukia. She stood up and walked over to the side of the bed where Inuyasha was still crouched.

He gave her a wary look but sat down on the edge of the bed and allowed her to check his bandages.

"What's your name?" she asked as she sat back.

"Inuyasha," he said tentatively. He still looked like he didn't entirely trust them.

"I'm Lenalee. The guy with pink hair is Szayel, and that's Rukia." She reached out and checked a bruise that had risen on his face.

"That's Allen, and Naruto," he said, pointing to each of them in turn. "And Ichigo's gone."

"We understand that you don't trust us yet, but we're here to help you all. You were all in pretty bad shape when we brought you in," she explained as she moved to check on Naruto's bandages. He didn't move much as she checked first the ones on his shoulders, then gently rolled him to his side so she could check the ones on his back.

Szayel, who was still sitting on the bed close to Allen, looked at the white-haired boy. "Can I check your bandages and make sure nothing got torn off with you moving around.

Allen nodded slightly. "Okay."

Szayel moved closer and lifted his shirt to check on the wrapping around his ribs. "Your ribs were pretty injured. I don't think any were broken, but they were bruised pretty bad."

"They hurt," he said quietly.

"I know. But they'll heal. All of you will heal." He glanced over to look at the other two. It would be a long road for all of them, but they would heal.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Grimmjow walked down the hall with Shiro, checking the other bedrooms on their way. They didn't find him at all in the lower level, so they headed up to the first floor. As they came out of the door, Grimmjow waved at a girl with green hair that was waiting nearer to the door.

"Grimmy," she said, turning around.

"Nelliel, this is Shiro. We're looking for someone that looks like him but has orange hair and is in one of the medical wing's outfits. Have ya seen anyone like that?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, I've been here for the last hour or so with Pesche here," she gestured to a guy with a horned facemask on. "No one's come toward the front door."

Grimmjow turned around and looked back at the way they had come. He frowned and noticed that the stairs to the lab were close by. "Maybe he saw Nel and went for the stairs up," he told Shiro.

"That's the lab, right?" Shiro asked as they headed up the stairs slowly.

"Yeah," Grimmjow confirmed as they reached the top. They didn't immediately see anyone around. "Can't you like sense him or something?"

Shiro nodded. "I can tell when he's near."

"And?" Grimmjow asked, arching a brow at his pale companion.

"He's near," Shiro shrugged, looking at Grimmjow.

"Can he tell when you are near him?" he asked as they came to the first closed door.

"Yeah, but like me, it isn't pinpoint accuracy. More like a general feeling that we're close to each other," Shiro explained, opening the door on an empty lab room.

Shiro could sense that he was near, on this very floor. That was a good sign. He'd worried that he had somehow got out of the building, and they would have an even harder time finding him. He hoped that sensing he was near was enough to bring him out of hiding. If he was conscious, of course. He could be out considering the condition he'd been in.

"Ichigo?" he called as he opened another lab room. Grimmjow was checking across the hall.

There was no answer, but then Shiro didn't really expect one. If Ichigo were awake, he would have come out to see where Shiro was when he got close enough to sense him. They opened a few more doors until finally, Shiro opened on and saw feet under one of the tables in the back. He sighed and ran into the room with Grimmjow following him.

He knelt down beside Ichigo. He was curled up in a ball, leaning against the wall beside a desk. Shiro put a hand out and shook him. "Wake up, Ichigo."

Ichigo's eyes fluttered, his one black and gold eye locking onto Shiro's face before his other eye could even focus. He gasped and grabbed him.

"Shiro!" he exclaimed, and they hugged each other tightly.

"Ichigo, I found you," he said and almost felt tears come to his eyes. He felt like they'd been apart forever while Ichigo was unconscious. "And you're awake. Come on, now. This is no place to sleep, okay?"

Ichigo nodded and stood up, still clinging to Shiro's hand. His eyes fell on Grimmjow and his eyes went wide. Shiro squeezed his hand tightly.

"Ichigo, this is Grimmjow. We're in Las Noches, in Hueco Mundo. That's where they brought us to be safe," Shiro explained.

"Are the others safe too?" he asked, looking at him seriously.

"Yeah, come on, let's go back down to the rooms and you can see them, and meet some of the others," Shiro said as he pulled him out of the corner he was in.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ciel stood at the site they had acquired to build the embassy building. So far, it was an empty lot in the center of Londinium. A central location had been chosen that was well away from all the bases for the various factions. With him were several of the council members.

"This is a mistake," one of the older men commented as he stared with his beady eyes at the empty space. "Having an embassy makes it easier for them to spy on us."

Ciel rolled his eyes and turned to face him. "With the power that we are up against, it is better to work on diplomatic solutions to this problem."

"What of the public perception of demons and their ilk?" another older man asked.

"The public will just have to get used to the demons and their presence. The only demons that are going to be difficult to work with is the Akuma and the Noah family," Ciel frowned because he knew that making peace with them was going to extremely hard, if not impossible. However, if they had the other demons on their side, they were much more likely to keep them under control.

"Still, maintaining gates to all eight realms?" the first man asked incredulously. "Who will be in charge of that?"

"The running of the embassy will be a joint effort between the Black Order, the Shinigami, and the Queen herself. We are in luck because the Arrancar have the last remaining known Quincy in their ranks," Ciel mentioned, keeping his back to the other council members.

There was a muttered discussion behind him in hushed tones. Then one of them spoke up. "How can we be sure that he is on our side? If he is with the Arrancar?"

"He is still human." Ciel wondered then if the rumors were true. "He is rumored to be mated to one of the Espada."

The men behind him chattered for a second about this idea. "Does that not make him even more on the side of the demons than anyone else?"

"It gives us a human contact inside the Arrancar," Ciel pointed out. "It will be useful in the long run. And that's what we need to concentrate on, the long view. The immediate future may not look that bright, but it is the far future of the human race we need to consider. If we want to live, we must take these actions now."

"What of Purgatory?"

Ciel did turn around now and looked around at the other six council members. "It has been shut down completely. Their operation will no longer be allowed to thrive in this city."

"Was it discovered who was running that awful place?" one of the quieter members asked.

Ciel shook his head. "It was being run blind with no one knowing who was in charge. Whoever they are, they're still out there. However, it will take them time to build that sort of operation again, and this time we're watching closely."

"Then they might try to set up such an operation again," another of the men said nervously. "If they do that, that could strain relations with the various demon factions even more."

"That's something we'll have to worry about when it happens," Ciel told him curtly. "Right now, our priority is the embassy building. Once we have treaties and agreements with each of the factions, it will make it easier to have a cross faction action group."

"Who will be watching over the creation of the portals to the realms?"

Ciel sighed. These men were infuriating. They wanted all the answers at one time and didn't want to wait and see what happened. "I will oversee the contacts that are necessary for the creation. I will be directly in contact with representatives from each of the realms."

"Why should we put our faith in a boy?" the first, and most annoying, of the council members scoffed.

"I am not just a boy," Ciel said through grit teeth. He wanted to tell them he was nearly thirty years old even though he looked like a teenager, but the Queen herself was the only one that knew that secret. It was one of the reasons she put faith in him. "The Queen trusts me with this; is that not answer enough for you?"

There was a murmured consensus among the council members, and he knew he had them. They gave their obedience to the Queen completely. Whatever she decided was deemed to be the law, even if she were disagreed with. Her final say was what would be done. And if she trusted Ciel, they would have to simple deal with believing him a child. He would show them his capability. The embassy would be a great success for them, and he knew it.

As the others left to go back to their various transportations. Ciel stood there with Sebastian at his back. He turned around and looked up at him with a smirk.

"Those old fools don't realize the importance of this building. They don't understand the reasoning behind it; they simply see the future as far as the ending of their pathetic lives. They have no long view for what will happen after they die." Ciel looked around at the empty lot again.

He could see the potential in the place. And he knew that it would take less time with the use of the technologies of demonic origin to aid the building. They would have to make certain that all the demons were represented in the embassy, and that included the pact demons like Sebastian.

"Shall we reveal ourselves at that time?" Sebastian said with a sly grin.

"We should be the emissaries for the Goetians. It only makes sense since you and I already are known by the Queen." Ciel walked out into the center of the empty lot. It was a large lot, actually three smaller lots of land together.

"Imagine what we can do with unfettered access to demon magic. The improvements to Londinium are endless. And it will put me closer to my goal," Ciel tucked his hands behind his back and stared up into the afternoon sky.

"Yes, of course, Bochan," Sebastian said with as smirk. "Your aim is to bring down those that murdered your parents and harmed you. We have had good luck in tracing the people to the lowest level of hell. You truly have been ruthless in your destruction of those that have caused you pain and suffering."

"Yes, but we haven't been able to defeat the one that incited the treachery that caused those humans to turn on their fellow humans," Ciel pointed out. "I have yet to destroy the King of Hell."

"You have grown closer to being able to locate him. We know he has escaped into the human world during the Four-Fold Demon War. It is just a matter of locating him." Sebastian put both hands on Ciel's shoulders. "We will find him and destroy him together."

Ciel let out a sigh. "This embassy will put me closer than ever before."

"There are others that wish to destroy or cage the Treacherous one. Uniting with them will increase your chances at revenge, my lord," Sebastian pointed out.

"I do not wish to cage this beast. I will see him destroyed like he destroyed so much of my very life," he whispered and put a hand on Sebastian's where it rested on his shoulder. "Let's go back and report to the Queen. I am her Watchdog after all," he said and walked back toward the horseless carriage they used. Ciel had no other servants besides Sebastian, but then he was much more than a simple servant.

Once they had returned to the castle, he requested to see the Queen immediately. It was only a scant five minutes before she sent for them. Of course, Sebastian was allowed with him. They came as a unit and that was the only way to see either of them.

"Your Majesty," Ciel said as he knelt before her. Sebastian did the same beside him.

The Queen, an older woman with white hair and a severe expression, turned toward them. "Rise."

"We have a report on the Council and the Embassy building plan," Ciel commented smoothly.

"Yes?" she asked. "Do go on."

"The Council shows some resistance to my presence, continuing to call my experience into question. I pointed out that I have your trust, and that gave them pause." Ciel glanced to Sebastian and back at her. "The plan to ally with the rest of the Goetians is still underway. Once the portals have been crafted, it should be easy enough to forge a peace agreement with the others."

"You are certain the other Goetians will want peace?" she asked.

"If I may, Your Majesty," Sebastian said, putting a hand to his chest and bowing slightly to her. "We are immortal demons and our numbers will not increase. Peace is in our best interest to keep our people alive. The many Goetians who have pacts with human families will go to war in the name of their pact bond, putting themselves at risk for death. It behooves us if the human world is not in turmoil."

"Hmm, yes, I can see how that would be the case," the Queen said and turned to look back out the window. "What of the other demon factions? Do you anticipate any resistance from them?"

"The only faction that has not already expressed interest in completing a peace accord is the Noah family. We have had two Akuma attacks in Londinium in the last few weeks, but these are but skirmishes." Ciel sighed. "But the Millennium Earl has been resistant to talks. We believe that we may be able to encourage peace with them given that the others will be falling in line."

"Very well," the Queen nodded. "Continue with the plans to construct the embassy. Use whatever means are necessary to speed the construction. I will put out a call for representatives to be selected for each of the other factions, including the Djinn and the Succubi/Incubi. I believe the Lord Sesshōmaru will be favorable to work with, and Cayote Starrk of the Arrancar has been amenable. We have yet to find a representative for the Tailed Beasts, but I understand that the Lord Kyuubi has a son that was pulled from purgatory recently." She paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "The Millennium Earl may not come in person but will send one of the Noahs. This is sufficient."

She stood and motioned to Ciel to come forward. Ciel stepped closer and she embraced him as though he were a member of her own family. The young man returned the embrace stoically. She pushed him back at arm's length and smiled.

"You will have your revenge, my dear boy," she said with a knowing glint to her eye. "Those that created that awful cult will be found and punished. I have great confidence in you and your demonic servant. Do not let the words of the old men of the Council bother you. What you suggest is what we shall do. It is the right path for humans to take, and it also takes you to your goal."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Ciel bowed slightly. "I will have the construction begun on the embassy building. With demonic aid, it should take no more than three months to complete the building, including the manufacture of the portals."

"Very good," she replied and turned away from him. "I lay my trust in you."

Ciel bowed and left the Queen with Sebastian at his side. Once outside he paused and looked at the demon.

"This will lead to the end I seek," he told him.

"I believe it will, my lord," Sebastian stated, subtly smiling at him.

"Let's return to our room. I have need of you," he said and turned on his heel to go back toward their place in the castle.

"Of course, my Lord," Sebastian said as he easily caught up to the shorter of the pair. 


End file.
